Set Yourself on Fire
by DarkAngelTorchic
Summary: Nearly three years after the "incident" at Dragonspiral Tower, Delaney Caldwell finds herself with an interesting offer: a chance to start over and help a struggling region rebuild after attacks have nearly destroyed everything. When there's nothing left to burn, you've got to set yourself on fire.
1. Prologue: Our Hell

**Prologue: Our Hell**

Catina Reynolds had been eighteen when she realized that being a nurse in a Pokemon Center was just not for her. A clefairy had come in, unconscious after an attack by a bunch of particularly vicious zubats in Mount Moon. The clefairy's trainer, a young girl with stick straight red hair and wide green eyes, was in hysterics. She, too, had been bitten a few times by the zubats in trying to save her pokemon, but ultimately all she could do was just run as fast as she could towards a Pokemon Center. Catina was too afraid to touch the small pink pokemon, as she didn't want to worry it further, so the head nurse, a kind woman named Joy, told Catina to stay with the trainer while Joy took care of the pokemon.

As Catina sat with the sobbing girl and tried to sooth her fears and grief, she found that she was much more successful at healing emotionally wounded people than physically wounded pokemon. Within moments, the girl was no longer crying and instead was chattering on, and telling Catina her life story. Of course, not all people were so easily consoled as a scared young girl, but that day was the main reason why now, at age 38, Catina Reynolds now sat in a desk behind a door with her name on it instead of in a Pokemon Center.

The door with her name on it creaked loudly whenever it opened, causing Catina to look up from whatever she was doing at the moment to see who wanted to see her. When the door creaked open at 1:30 on a Monday afternoon, Catina had been scribbling down notes on a regular patient back home who had called her in hysterics upon learning she was in Hoenn for awhile.

He walked in before Catina could look up from her notebook. Though he wasn't of particularly formidable stature, he still carried an aura of power wherever he went. His steel gray eyes held a certain shine whenever he spoke. "Good afternoon Dr. Reynolds," he said pleasantly.

"Good afternoon, Champion Steven," Catina said, her eyes wide in surprise. She hadn't been expecting anyone until two, when her first appointment was supposed to show up, much less the Champion of the Hoenn region. He had been the one to hire her, yes, but she hadn't realized she would be dealing with him directly. Most with his level of power only dealt with her through secretaries and assistants.

"Please, Steven is fine," he said cordially. "I understand you have the first of your appointments today."

"Yes, sir," Catina said, nodding. She turned to her appointment book to look for the names.

"I really appreciate you taking the time to come up here, Dr. Reynolds. I know how busy you are with your practice in Celadon. I know it's quite a journey for you to be coming out here, but this is a special case and you came highly recommended." Steven sat down on the couch where her patients usually sat.

"Thank you, Steven," Catina said with a smile.

"The five individuals that you will be meeting with all come from one of the three regions that have been under attack. They have all been through some degree of trauma, though some are dealing better than others. All of them are taking administrative positions here in Evergrande, Dr. Reynolds. I want to make sure that they're getting treatment for all of the issues that come with the distress they've endured."

"Of course, sir. I will make sure they get the treatment they need," Catina said, again grabbing her leatherbound notebook that she used to take notes during her sessions. "Is there anything I should be aware of with any of them? You didn't give much information on the phone."

"I apologize for that," he said with a small grimace. "One of my gym leaders was in a panic. I'm sure you heard about the damage caused by Teams Magma and Aqua awhile back?"

"It was all over the news, sir. What a tragedy," Catina murmured, shaking her head.

"It was a horrible time for Hoenn," Steven said sadly. "But we're rebuilding. Some areas were hit particularly hard though, and the gym leaders in charge are having a difficult time trying to get their city back up to par."

"I can imagine it would be a difficult task," Catina said, shaking her head again. She glanced at her watch. 1:45. "Sir, my two o'clock appointment should be here soon. Is there anything I should know about any of your employees?"

Steven appeared to be in deep thought. "It's hard to know where to begin. They've all been through so much. Who are your appointments today?"

"At two o'clock I'll be seeing a young lady named… Flannery…?"

"Oh yes, Flannery," Steven said. "Pardon me, I forgot who we set up for when. Flannery is the only person from Hoenn on this team. She was a gym leader in the small mountain town of Lavaridge, but her house was destroyed in the eruption of the volcano caused by Team Magma. In addition, her close friend Winona's town of Fortree was destroyed in the storms caused by Kyogre. Nobody has seen or heard from Winona since. Her gym has been relocated to the city of Lilycove."

"Poor girl," Catina said sadly. "It must be difficult for her to be faced with this all at once."

Steven nodded. "Her grandfather has said there's been days where she can't even force herself to leave the house. She's a strong girl though. Very… feisty, if you will. She's very excited about the prospect of helping out in the rebuilding. She'll be in charge of the complete rebuilding of Fortree."

"That sounds like a good project for her," Catina said as she took down quick notes. She glanced at her watch again. 1:50. "In addition to Flannery, I have a four o'clock with a… Delaney, I believe her name is…"

"Delaney Caldwell," Steven said with a nod.

"Oh, _that _Delaney Caldwell?" Catina asked, her brown eyes growing wide.

"Yes, _that _Delaney Caldwell. She may be the biggest challenge of them all," he said with a grimace. "I'm sure you know the basic story. Defeated Team Galactic at age 15 in their first incarnation, and then left for Unova six months later. She lived with her mother for a brief time before going out on another journey. She was becoming rather well-known in the Unova region for fighting Team Plasma under the name Christa White until an incident in Icirrus City caused her to leave the region. After that, Teams Galactic and Plasma took hold of both Unova and Sinnoh under the united front of N, the boy who captured Reshiram, a man named Ghetsis and Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic."

"It's horrible that they allowed him to break out of prison," Catina muttered, her pen flying across the page as she wrote down the key points of Steven's information. "What happened to her after she left Unova?"

"I'm not quite sure," Steven said carefully. "When I asked her, she said she had been training in Johto, but there are no records of her battling any of the gym leaders, nor the Elite Four. I checked the records of other regions as well but it seems like she just... disappeared."

"There's a lot of information missing then," Catina said thoughtfully. "Sir, pardon me for asking, but I'm curious- this girl obviously has quite a lot of… issues to work out. Why did you choose her for this position?"

"I told her that the new Elite Four I was putting together was strictly for the purpose of helping to rebuild Hoenn." Steven paused, appearing to be in deep thought. "Miss Caldwell is a strong trainer, yes, but most of all, she's a survivor. Something tells me she's going to be essential to this rebuilding."

"She definitely sounds interesting," Catina said, glancing at her watch. 1:58. "I hate to cut you short, sir, but my two o'clock should be here any moment."

"Of course, Dr. Reynolds. I mainly just wanted to say thank you for coming, anyways. Thank you for allowing me some of your time," Steven said politely.

For being the reigning champion of the Hoenn region, that Steven Stone sure was courteous. "No, thank _you_, sir," she said, taken aback by his politeness. It was easy to understand why the entire region of Hoenn adored him. "I'm glad to be able to help."

"I have the utmost confidence that you're the best person for the job, Dr. Reynolds," he said with a warm smile. "Now I'll let you get to your appointment. Good day, Dr. Reynolds."

"Have a good afternoon, sir," Catina said with a smile.

He smiled and nodded her as he opened the door. It creaked as he turned the handle. "Good afternoon, Flannery," she could hear him say as the door shut. "I think Dr. Reynolds is expecting you."

* * *

In the hour between her two appointments, Catina had gotten four emergency phone calls from Kanto that needed to be dealt with immediately. It was about fifteen minutes after four when she instructed Brenna, the kind young nurse's aide that Steven had hired to escort his new Elite Four around Evergrande, to tell her four o'clock appointment to "come on in".

Catina had seen pictures of Delaney Caldwell, seen her on TV. She knew that the girl had long, straight light blonde hair and violet eyes, that she had a thin build and was about average height. She dressed nicely (which was to be expected, considering who her father was) and was extremely polite, and not very talkative. In the handful of interviews Catina had seen around the time of Team Galactic's downfall, she had only talked when spoken to, and blushed easily. She was, all in all, a nice young girl with a bright future. Of course, this was four, almost five, years ago, but Catina couldn't imagine her changing that much. Girls like Delaney had years of proper upbringing ingrained in them.

She wouldn't have known the girl that walked into her office was Delaney Caldwell had she not just asked for her, but the violet eyes gave it away. She was still rather thin, though more muscular than she had been, and she had grown a couple inches. Her hair was no longer almost platinum, but instead, dark brown and wavy. Her nose was crooked and bent to the left side and there was a scar on her chin. The façade of niceness was gone too- she stared at Catina almost like she was trying to mentally burn a hole through her. It was clear she did not want to be there.

It was her job, though, to fix whatever had gone wrong with Delaney Caldwell over the years, so Catina put on a bright smile and held out a hand to greet her. "Hello! You must be Delaney. Nice to meet you!"

The brunette stared coolly back at Catina. "Likewise, I'm sure," she said stiffly. She did not extend her hand.

"Please, take a seat," she said, gesturing to the couch. She did not take a seat. "Steven tells me you're quite the trainer. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Delaney?" she asked nervously, taking a seat in the oversized chair.

"I think you know pretty much all there is to say." Uninterested, the brunette leaned against the bookshelf and looked down at her.

"I want to hear it in your words, though," Catina said, trying not to snap. Steven hadn't said anything about how hostile this girl was.

Delaney sighed. "I'm Delaney, which you already know. Four years ago, I defeated Team Galactic, which you already know. After they came back, I left Sinnoh for Unova and traveled around there. I made a few enemies in Team Plasma. When Plasma and Galactic joined together, I failed to beat them, _which you already know._ That's really about it."

"That was three years ago, Delaney," Catina said gently. "What did you do after you left Unova?"

"I went to Johto," she said curtly.

"Did you battle there?"

Delaney paused. She was no longer staring down at Catina, but instead staring off into space. "No, I just traveled," she said, her voice carrying off. "Battling just seemed so trite after…"

"After what?"

"All that happened," she finished, straightening up. She took a seat on the edge of the couch. "I stayed there by myself for two and a half years, and then my friend Sawyer came to find me. I've been here in Hoenn for about three weeks."

"Is Sawyer your boyfriend?" Catina asked with a small smile. She hoped he was. This girl needed at least a shred of normalcy.

Delaney was quick to react. "No! Arceus, no. Can't a girl and a guy just be friends without there having to be anything else to it?"

"Oh, of course they can," Catina responded. "I'm sorry, I just thought…"

"Well you thought wrong," she said, pursing her lips and glaring at Catina. The question, for some reason, had angered her. There was definitely something that Delaney was not saying. Why else would she have gotten mad?

"There's more to you than just this whole Galactic-Plasma nonsense, Delaney," Catina said gently. "What else is there? What makes you happy?"

"What makes me happy?" she repeated, a bit of a laugh coming into her voice. "You know, what would make me really happy is getting the hell out of here. You know we're just wasting each other's time."

"I don't believe that at all, Delaney," Catina said quietly, though secretly, she suspected she was right. She wanted to help Delaney Caldwell, she really did, but she was beginning to believe there wasn't much she could do until Delaney was ready to talk. "But if it will make you happy, we'll cut today's session short. You can set up a time to see me again with Steven."

"Thank Arceus," Delaney muttered as she whirled around and headed for the door.

"Wait, I'll call Brenna to come and get you," Catina said, surprised.

"I can find the way back myself!" Delaney called back, dismissing her with a wave of her hand.

"It was nice to meet you!" Catina called hopefully.

The only response to that was silence.

* * *

**Author's Note (7/06/12): **Hello, and welcome back to those who are here from TCatG! If you are new, a) welcome, and glad you're here! And b) you should probably know that this is a sequel to **The City and the Ghost** and it would probably be good to read that first.

At any rate, this is SYOF, which is going in a completely different direction than most of you expected. Welcome! You're in for a bit of a crazy ride. (:

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this. Chapter 01 will be back up to my usual chapter length, but this is just a small glimpse at what's to come. Questions, concerns, reviews and (constructive) criticism are always welcome.

Chapter 01 will more than likely be posted Monday, just as an FYI.

Thanks!

~DAT


	2. 01: Your Worst is Your Best

_My name is Delaney Christa Caldwell. I am nineteen years old; my birthday is on February 3rd. I'm from the outskirts of Hearthrome City in Sinnoh. My parents are Blake Caldwell and Lydia White. I have no siblings. I have two best friends, Dax Briley and Sawyer Hale. My favorite color is green. My pokemon are… pretty strong, I guess? I don't know what to say about myself. It doesn't really matter anyways, does it?  
_

* * *

**Chapter 01: Your Worst is Your Best**

"Delaney, while I'm sure everyone will be honored to know how many outfits you've gone through to find the one that impresses them most, don't you think you should pick one and call it good?"

Delaney rolled her eyes as she emerged from the small walk-in closet wearing a simple, strapless navy blue dress and silver sandals. "Sawyer, I'm not sure you understand the gravity of the situation. Tonight I'm not just meeting the rest of the Hoenn Elite Four for the first time, but _Steven Stone_. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"Not really," the auburn-haired boy said, flopping down on Delaney's couch. "You've had like, a million phone conversations with him. He's seen you on the Crosstransceiver. What's the difference?"

"You are such a boy, Sawyer," Delaney said exasperatedly. "What do you think about the navy? Should I change back into the gray?"

"No!" Sawyer yelled quickly, hopping up. "You look fine in that one."

"Tonight is not the night to look fine, Sawyer," Delaney said as she began to go through the pile of dresses currently on her bed.

"Did I say fine? Because I meant lovely. Ravishing. Devastatingly perfect. Arceus, Delaney, stick with this dress, you're going to be late," Sawyer pleaded.

Delaney chuckled. "Well, as long as I look devastatingly perfect… That means I can work on my hair." She shot a smirk at the clearly exasperated Sawyer, who had retreated back to the couch.

"You have five minutes before I carry you to that meeting myself," he threatened. A knock on the door stopped him from continuing with more. "See, that's probably your cue to go, and you're not even ready!"

Naturally, it was Sawyer who got up to answer the door, where a petite girl with light brown hair and warm green eyes stood with a smile on her face and a blush on her cheeks. "Good evening, Mr. Hale! I didn't know you were going to be here. I just came to escort Miss Caldwell to the meeting and…"

"Nice to see you, Brenna," he said with a smile. "She's taking five years, but I can just walk her to the meeting if that's okay."

"Oh yes! Um, of course," she stammered. "The meeting is just in the big conference area upstairs. You can't miss it."

"Thanks Brenna," he said. "We'll be there soon. Have a good night."

"You too, Mr. Hale!" she squeaked, her cheeks turning even more pink (if possible). With that, she turned and left, heading back down the hall.

"Someone had a cruuuuush," Delaney sang, making her appearance out of the bathroom. Her hair looked no different than it had before she had ventured into the bathroom, but she did have a bit of eye make-up on. "Pretty good for five minutes, right?"

"Your hair literally looks exactly like it did five minutes ago," Sawyer said with a roll of his eyes. Delaney's eyes widened and she took a step back towards the bathroom. "But five minutes ago it looked absolutely fantastic, so you know... yay! Let's go. You're just lucky I'm not carrying you there."

"Like you would've," Delaney said with a chuckle as she exited the room. She made sure to lock it once Sawyer had followed her out.

"You're right… But Breloom sure as hell would've carried you for me so… Consider yourself lucky, Caldwell!" he said, nudging her.

Delaney nudged him back. "Sooooo are you gonna ask her out?" she asked with a mischievious glint in her eye.

"Ask who out?" Sawyer asked, confusion spreading across his features.

"Arceus, Sawyer, Brenna!" Delaney cried. "Who else would we be talking about?"

"This conversation confuses me," the auburn-haired boy said, crunching his nose. He was paying far more attention to hallway signs "You're such a girl, Delaney."

The brunette rolled her eyes as she began to head up the stairs. "Sawyer, Brenna is so cute. You should really consider asking her out."

"Isn't she a bit young for me? She looks young." Sawyer quickly passed Delaney on the stairs and looked down the hall to try and spot where the meeting room was. It wasn't hard to find, with its large, menacing steel doors clearly meant to block out those who were not meant to be there. A red-headed younger woman with a midriff-bearing top was going through the door. Clearly she wasn't as worried about appearance as Delaney (or she was just going in a completely different direction).

"Sawyer, she's 22 or 23, I think," Delaney said as she joined him at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, well she looks really young," Sawyer said noncommittally.

Delaney sighed. "Sawyer, I think you're one of the only people alive more ridiculous than me."

"You're probably right about that," he said, gesturing towards the doors to the meeting room. Brenna was right- you definitely couldn't miss them. "I think this is where you're supposed to be."

Delaney's eyes widened. "You think so? Because I think you just walked me to like, a bomb shelter or weapons armory or you know, the resting place of Rayquaza or something."

Sawyer pointed to a sign next to the door. "Meeting room A. You know, because you're all A-grade trainers or something like that." The auburn-haired boy noticed her look of fear and sighed. "It just hit you that you're walking into a meeting with Steven Stone and the Elite Four, didn't it? That kind of sounds like a band…" he added thoughtfully.

Despite her onset of nerves, Delaney had to chuckle. Leave it to Sawyer to make her laugh when she really just kind of wanted to run and scream. "You know me far too well…" she muttered.

It surprised her when Sawyer pulled her close and hugged her. "You're going to be just fine, Del. Steven chose you for a reason."

"What if he chose wrong?" she asked fearfully.

"He didn't. You're Delaney freaking Caldwell," Sawyer said, as though that meant something to her.

"Yeah, that girl that couldn't beat Team Plasma or Galactic and let Cyrus…" Her voice drifted off and a dark look came over her features. "I'm not really good at pep talks, am I?"

"No," Sawyer said, shaking his head, hugging her tighter. "The Elite Four is a big deal and they're going to be lucky to have you. Steven asked you, not anybody else. Remember that, Del," he said, a small smile on his face as he released the brunette from the hug. "Now you're going to be really late. Get in there!"

"Yes sir," she said with a chuckle. "Thanks, Sawyer."

"Yeah yeah yeah, go to your big fancy Elite Four meeting with Steven Stone," he said with a grin. "I'm going to hang out at the pool."

Delaney was still smiling to herself as she pulled open the heavy door and walked into Meeting Room A. the room was mostly bare, with the exception of a large square oak table in the middle of the room. Two chairs were set up on each side, with a much plusher chair at the head of the table, obviously for Steven. Seeing as how only one other person was there, she hadn't needed to worry nearly as much about being late as Sawyer had thought. She smiled nervously and took a seat across the table from a redhaired woman with a bright smile.

"Hi, you must be Delaney! I'm Flannery!" she said, extended a hand for the brunette to shake. "At least I think you're Delaney, but I was told there was only one other female in the group, so if you're not Delaney, then I'm so sorry… Though I guess Riley can be either a guy or a girl…"

"No, I'm Delaney," the brunette said, ending Flannery's ranting and shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Flannery."

"So nice to meet you too! I've heard a lot of good things about you. Steven said you took on Cynthia for the Sinnoh championship and almost got through the Unova League before… Well, before this crap," she said, editing herself as she spoke. "Sorry, he mentioned that too, and he also mentioned that we weren't supposed to mention it so… sorry…"

Delaney had to laugh at the girl's enthusiasm, even though she was bringing up things Delaney really did hate to talk about. "It's no problem. Yeah, I battled Cynthia… Honestly, I'm glad I lost. I couldn't have handled being the Champion."

"Arceus, I know, right?" Flannery said, her blue eyes shining. "I'm really nervous about this whole Elite Four thing. I couldn't imagine doing what Steven does. He is such a badass. Have you met him yet?"

"Um, no," she said, her nerves returning. For a moment, she had conveniently forgotten that she was about to meet Steven Stone, one of the most revered trainers in recent history. "I mean, I've talked to him, but I haven't met him."

"You'll like him, everyone does… Well, as long as you're not on his bad side, but you're clearly not because you're here," she said brightly. She opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the thud of the doors shutting. A young man with dark hair strode in confidently. He wore a clearly expensive blue jacket, with a fancy blue hat on his head. While he was clearly not as bubbly or outgoing as Flannery, he seemed nice enough.

"Good afternoon, ladies," he said with a kind smile.

"Good afternoon! I'm Flannery, nice to meet you!" the red-haired girl said with a big smile on her face. "I think he's Riley," Flannery said to Delaney. "Unless he's that other guy, but I can't remember that other guy's name."

"I'm Riley," he confirmed. "Very nice to meet you, Flannery," he said, flashing a kind and courteous smile at Flannery. With that, he turned to Delaney. "And you're Delaney Caldwell," he said, raising an eyebrow at Delaney. "I can't say I'm a stranger to your story, but I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting you in person."

"Are you from… Sinnoh? Or Unova, maybe?" she asked cautiously (though he looked more like a Sinnoh kind of guy to her). She was always afraid that those from Sinnoh and Unova hated her for not being able to cast Teams Galactic and Plasma out of their homes. She half-expected the smile to wipe itself off of Riley's face and be replaced by a sneer. "I'm, um, surprised we haven't met yet. It's nice to meet you, Riley."

"My family is," he said vaguely. He took the seat between Delaney and the plush chair at the head of the table. "Flannery, where are you from?" he asked, switching topics abruptly.

"I'm from here in Hoenn- Lavaridge Town, to be exact. My grandfather used to be the gym leader, and when he retired, I took over. Now that I'm here, though, the acting gym leader is some hotshot trainer from Sinnoh that happened to be there when Mount Chimney erupted. I think he'll be good in getting Lavaridge back up to speed!" You could definitely tell that Flannery was nervous by the way she was rambling- she almost reminded Delaney of Bianca in that respect (though Delaney could already tell that she was nowhere near as chatty as Bianca- nobody was, or ever would be).

"How bad was the damage from Mount Chimney?" Riley asked.

"It could've been worse," Flannery said, the smile wiped off of her face. "Quite a few homes were destroyed and we suffered a few casualties. Minor damage to the gym… Though my grandfather has already been taking care of that. We were just lucky that it didn't wipe out the town completely. Some places suffered… a lot more."

Maybe it seemed trite, but Delaney hadn't really recognized exactly what she was dealing with here until Flannery opened up about the damage to her home and the fact that others were even worse off. What were they going to be doing? Building houses, fixing buildings, helping people put their lives back together? How bad of shape was Hoenn in exactly?

Delaney didn't have a chance to dwell on this though. Before she or Riley had the chance to respond, the door opened once again. This time, Delaney knew exactly who it was. She had seen his face on the screen of her Crosstransceiver and even before that, on television and magazine covers. Steven Stone was one of the most renowned trainers in the world (even in Sinnoh, where Cynthia was heralded- rumor had it that he had once owned one of the villas in the Resort Area) and he was striding towards her with a pleasant smile on his face. First he told Flannery it was nice to see her and then he and Riley shared one of those one-armed man hugs and then suddenly Steven was standing in front of her. Delaney quickly stood herself. "It's nice to finally meet you in person, Miss Caldwell," he said kindly, extending a hand.

And then Delaney was actually shaking the hand of the Steven Stone and mumbling that it was nice to meet him as well (more than likely turning bright red in the process). With that, he took his seat at the head of the table. "We'll wait a few more minutes," he said, nodding at the empty chair on his left. He then proceeded to ask Flannery about somebody named Jackson (who Delaney found out was the new gym leader that Flannery had been referring to earlier) and then discussing somewhere called Mossdeep with Riley. It sounded like Flannery and Riley were a lot more well-informed than she was, which worried her quite a bit.

It was a few more minutes before the door opened for a final time, and a tall, lanky young man in a green shirt and multi-colored striped pants strode in confidently. His curly auburn hair was not unlike Sawyer's and his green eyes sparkled just as they had when Delaney had met him three years before. Delaney's own eyes were widening at the sight of him. Burgh was quite literally the last person Delaney had expected to walk through those doors, though it comforted her slightly that his own eyes were widening in surprise as he took her in as well. Apparently at least someone else was as in the dark as she was. "Christa White- or should I say Delaney Caldwell?" he said with a slight smirk as he took the last remaining empty seat.

"Good to see you, Burgh," Steven said with a slight chuckle. "I forgot that you two know each other. I trust that you and your protégé made it in okay?"

"Oh yes, he's taking care of getting room keys and what not while I sit in here," Burgh said. "Long flight though."

"Aren't they all?" Steven asked with a laugh. "Now that we're all here, let's get started so I can let you all out as soon as possible. I'm sure none of us are too keen at the possibility of staying here until midnight."

"Ew, is that an actual possibility?" Flannery asked, wrinkling her nose.

"One that I'm trying to eliminate so long as we get everything done," Steven said. "Let's just breeze through this. The four of you know why you're here. I've asked each one of you personally to come here and be a part of a new Elite Four that is dedicated to rebuilding the region of Hoenn. The past Elite Four, as well as my successor as Champion, have all been excused from duty in light of the tragedies caused by Teams Aqua and Magma, as it was found that some of them were leaking information that could have been an asset to Aqua or Magma and I was asked to return to my post as Champion. Most of the gym leaders have left or retired. Some cities have been destroyed. We have a lot to do and I believed, and still do believe, that you are the best people that could help lead this rebuilding."

"Flannery, you've been a well-loved gym leader here in Hoenn for years, just as your grandfather was before you. The people of Hoenn trust you and will do anything to help you just as you've helped them. Some of them carry your badge, others just carry respect for you. You've been a great asset in leading the rebuilding of Lavaridge after the eruption of Mount Chimney, and I have no doubt that you'll be even more of an asset to the rest of Hoenn. Specifically, I would appreciate if you focused your efforts in helping Fortree rebuild." Steven paused as Flannery let out a particularly loud gasp, her eyes widening. "They will need the most help, and I know you've said you'd like to head up this task because of your friendship with Winona."

"Burgh, when I spoke to former Champion Alder of the Unova region about leaders in the region that could possibly help us here, you were the first person that came up. Alder has told me that in light of the… tragedies that have befallen Unova, you have been particularly good in trying to organize an Unovan resistance, though with a Team Plasma headquarters in your city, there's not much more you could do. From what I understand, you are one of the few trainers remaining in Unova with pokemon. Alder also spoke of your strengths as an ambassador of Unova before Teams Galactic and Plasma took over and mentioned that you organized and hosted several fundraisers in times of crisis that greatly helped, and I'm hoping you'll do the same for us. We've already spoken about a few of your ideas."

"Riley," he said, taking a breath and fixing his stare upon the dark-haired young man next to Delaney. "I personally could not think of anybody more suited to the task of rebuilding a region in distress. You have always been sharp-witted with good instincts. I have already mentioned to you that your task will be to rebuild the security infrastructure of Hoenn. Because of the chaos that has enveloped the region, crime has been particularly bad in some areas. In order to guarantee that this sort of thing will not happen again, we need to weed the crime out of Hoenn."

"And last but not least, Delaney," he said with a warm smile. "There is not a person alive that has not heard of your adventures. You're known as one of the greatest trainers out there, though what I would like your help with has nothing to do with training. The gym leaders are in charge of their towns, and in some cases, surrounding small towns. I have been trying to keep tabs on progress, but with everything else going on, I'm finding that making sure that each gym leader is making adequate progress is nearly impossible. I would like you to go to each gym leader and evaluate the progress being made on the town, or towns, they are in charge of. If not much has been done in the way of rebuilding or repairing damage, you'll let me know. If there is a large amount of crime, you'll let Riley know. I would also like to make sure these gym leaders are all people we can trust. While I appointed a few of them myself, some are long-time gym leaders and others have recently been appointed to their position by former gym leaders. I need to know if I need to plan on searching for their replacement before our gym circuit becomes prominent again."

"With any luck, you will all find that most of the people you are dealing with are citizens of Hoenn that are just trying to put their lives back together. I'm hoping that the gym leaders have taken care of a lot of the crime issues that have previously been reported to me. I'm also hoping that there are not a large amount of trainers visiting Hoenn right now. Your first priority is to help the citizens of Hoenn and hopefully, that mindset will mean that the rebuilding process will go by quickly and Hoenn will be back to its former glory soon."

"You keep saying hopefully," Flannery pointed out. "Is there some sort of potential obstacle that could get in our way?"

Steven grimaced. "I don't believe so. I've gotten a few reports of people running around in the uniform of Team Magma, though I have no concrete evidence."

"They better hope I don't get ahold of them," Flannery muttered darkly.

"I really don't think it's anything to worry about, Flannery," Steven said reassuringly. "If I did, you would've known about it before now… Which brings me to my final point. When I know something, you will know it- all of you. I expect the same courtesy. If any of you find something that could be perceived as a threat, I want to know about it. I don't want any surprises."

"What exactly happened to the former Elite Four and Champion?" Burgh asked. "Should we be worried about some sort of retaliation?"

"Wallace, who was my successor as Champion, has been imprisoned for giving information to Team Aqua that led to the events that occurred," Steven said flatly. "Another one of our members, Sidney, was thought to be divulging information to Team Magma, though that was neither confirmed nor proven to be false. I was asked to step up to the position of Champion after being away for four years. After the incident with Sidney, I let all four go. I wasn't sure how much I could trust them, and the last thing I want is to doubt those who I'm supposed to trust the most."

"How many of the gym leaders are new to their position?" Riley jumped in. "And how many of them have a good grip on their city?"

"Out of seven gym leaders, five are new. The gym leaders of Dewford and Petalburg have stayed. With Fortree destroyed, I put up a makeshift gym in Lilycove and asked an old colleague of mine to run it. An old friend of mine is running Sootopolis. As far as the other three go… One gym leader was offered a new job in Johto that she felt she could not turn down and asked a student of hers to take over for her. Another gym leader retired and asked his granddaughter to take over- a familiar story," he said with a grin at Flannery. "And Miss Hughes over there recently appointed her successor as the gym leader of Lavaridge. She assures me he is quite capable. As for the rest… I'm not sure. That will be something for Miss Caldwell to evaluate."

"Shouldn't there be eight gym leaders?" Delaney asked. "I thought all regions had eight."

"The twin gym leaders of Mossdeep recently resigned and I have not yet had a chance to find their replacement. Mossdeep will be where Riley's main security base is, though, and so whatever is left to be done in Mossdeep will be taken care of by him," Steven answered. He took a look at the silver watch on his right hand. "Nine o'clock, ladies and gentlemen. Much better than I expected. Do you have any more questions?"

The four were silent, keeping their gaze on Steven. "With that, then, I'm going to dismiss you. I expect you all to start on the tasks at hand tomorrow morning. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me. Good luck, though I know you are all more than capable without luck. It's going to be a pleasure working with you."

Steven was the first to get up from the table and he was already dialing on his Crosstransceiver as he crossed the room to the door. The four individuals sitting around the table were not so quick to move though. Flannery's nervous chatter was no more as she stared off, clearly thinking of all that Steven had just said. Burgh was trying to catch Delaney's eye, though she was trying to avoid him. Finally, Riley got up. "We should probably get some sleep and get an early start tomorrow," he said and with that, he too strode across the room and out the door. Flannery followed him wordlessly, as if she was in some sort of daze.

All that was left was Delaney and Burgh and she too made the move to get up. "Early to bed and early to rise!" she chirped nervously.

"Chri- Delaney," Burgh called. "Sorry, it's hard for me to get used to that. You really shocked the hell out of everyone, you know."

"I didn't really have much choice," Delaney said curtly. "Though considering they found me, Christa White didn't really serve a purpose anyways. Sorry to disappoint, though. If it's any consolation, I was beginning to like Christa more than Delaney."

"Wait wait wait," Burgh said. "That's not what I was saying at all. Quite the opposite, actually. I don't blame you, Delaney. Not a bit. You did what you could."

"And it wasn't enough," she sighed. "Tell me about Unova, Burgh."

"Steven asked me not to," he said, the most serious Delaney had ever seen him. "There's nothing you can do, Delaney. Don't dwell on it."

"Don't dwell on it? Are you kidding me, Burgh?" Delaney asked, a flicker of anger coming to her voice.

"Hey, there's nothing anybody can do," Burgh said, pursing his lips into a straight line. "We've all done all that we can do. Right now we have other things to focus on."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Delaney said flatly. She paused. "Did you really help organize a resistance group?"

"Of course I did, but Castelia got hit hard. I could hardly leave my gym. It was a miracle Nicolai and I got out of there."

"Nicolai?" Delaney asked, recognizing the name. "Small little redheaded kid with a litwick?"

"Well, he's a chandelure now, but yes, you know him?" Burgh asked. "Wait, yes you do. I remember him mentioning that a girl named Christa had gotten Oliver back from Team Plasma in Nimbasa."

"Yep, sure did," Delaney said. "I'm pretty sure I threatened to beat the hell out of those Team Plasma members, if I remember correctly, but they were so scared of a sixteen year old girl that they just gave the pokemon back without a fight."

Burgh chuckled. "You were pretty terrifying back in the day, if _I_ remember correctly. Do you still use the same team? I vividly recall a pretty vicious drilbur winning you a badge."

"I sent my herdier Charlie and Dibs- my drilbur- to stay with my father after he was attacked by Team Galactic," Delaney said softly.

"Oh… Wow," Burgh said, nearly speechless (something Delaney hadn't even thought possible). "What about your dewott? Did he wind up okay?"

"Perry is a samurott now," Delaney said with a grin. "He's still with me."

"He's not your only pokemon, is he?" Burgh asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I have a full team… All but one of them from Unova, actually," Delaney said with a slight grin. "I would've liked to keep training them there."

"If it's any consolation, we all know that you wiped the floor with Brycen, even if he didn't say so in as many words," Burgh said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think you could've gone all the way."

"Thanks Burgh," she said. "Christa White would've been very glad to hear that."

Burgh chuckled. "Delaney Caldwell should be happy to hear it too… And maybe she should get to bed. From what I can tell she has a long day ahead of her."

"Yeah, I think so too, but it should be fun, right?" The two began to head towards the doors.

"It's all in how you look at it," Burgh shrugged. "You get to travel across the Hoenn region, right? Who can argue with that?"

"Probably a lot of people at the moment, but I'm kind of excited," the brunette said. She pushed the doors open… Only to find Sawyer asleep in the doorway across the hall. "Oh goodness, that boy."

"Boyfriend?" Burgh asked with a smirk.

"Best friend," she said pointedly.

"Good, so he's single," Burgh said with a smirk.

"He won't ask out our adorable attendant Brenna, so maybe I'll send him your way," Delaney joked. She stood over Sawyer and then nudged his shoulder. He awoke with a start.

"I'll let you two get to sleep," Burgh said, still smirking. "And by the way, way cute dress."

"Aww, thanks!" Delaney said with a smile. "Let's go," she said to Sawyer.

"How long have you been out of that meeting?" Sawyer asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Not too long. How long have you been out here? I thought you were going to the pool."

"One of the other attendants was there with a big scary shark pokemon, so I decided that the pool could wait until tomorrow. Give me a hand?" Sawyer asked. Delaney extended her hand to him and he got up from the floor.

"Well, Sawyer, sorry to break it to you, but the pool may have to wait longer than that… Well, I guess not, if you want to stay here while I go work on what Steven gave me."

"I am not staying here by myself," Sawyer said indignantly. "Where are we going?"

"I am going to have to go from town to town and check on the progress of rebuilding… But you are more than welcome to join me," she said with a grin.

"Of course, Del," he said, throwing his arm across her shoulder as they walked down the hall to their rooms. "It'll be just like old times!"

"Not exactly," she said with a grimace. "I'm hoping better than old times… No blizzards, no Team Galactic or Plasma, no getting lost in the mountains."

"And no creepy shadow things either, right?" Sawyer added. "Because those things were just creepy."

Delaney frowned at the mention of the Shadow Triad. "None of that. Just some nice cross-country traveling, meeting with the gym leaders and maybe meeting a few nice, ordinary people along the way. That's possible, right? Normalcy?"

"Well, we can hope," Sawyer said with an eyebrow raise as he reached his door and pulled out his room key as Delaney did the same. "Though Del, you're quite far from normal."

"So I've noticed," the brunette responded dryly. "Good night, best friend."

"Good night, best friend," he responded as they both went to their respective rooms. Delaney sighed. This was certainly going to be an interesting experience, to say the least, though "not dwelling" on Unova, as Burgh had suggested, was not going to be so easy.

Not that anything had been easy so far, anyways.

* * *

**Author's Note (07/21/12): **I swear not every author's note is going to begin with my apologies for posting later than expected, but this one was really _really_ out of my control. I have had a large amount of family stuff to deal with over the last couple of weeks that has really overwhelmed me, to say the least. While it's not over, I'm hoping the worst of it is... Not to mention that I've had a delightful research report that I've been working on. Between those two things, my energy has just been spent... Yeesh.

On a happier note, I would like to thank my wonderful beta and friend **Noteleks**! Always such a huge help. (:

As always, thanks for reading. (: Chapter 2 will NOT take so long to post, I swear.

~DarkAngelTorchic


	3. 02: You Won't Know

_I don't want to sound like a cliché here, but I'm probably going to. I don't know if you would call it love. Hell, I don't even know if it could be classified as a relationship._

_But it was special._

_I know this is cliché, because it began like a cliché, between the meeting in the rain to the whole "forbidden" thing and then the goodbye after the "incident" (the first one). But nobody could've seen the second one coming, especially not me._

_I don't want to go into detail. I don't want to talk about this. Not now, not ever._

* * *

**Chapter 02: You Won't Know**

"Hey!" the girl cried. Tears stained her sunkissed cheeks, running down her face and falling onto her green t-shirt. "Give me Chomper back! Please!"

The man laughed to himself, his gut jiggling up and down as he did so. "Looky here, sweetheart, you're going to be much better off without the damn mawile. Why don't you go catch yourself a nice skitty?"

"Chomper is mine!" she insisted, her blonde pigtails bobbing furiously as she tried to jump and grab the pokéball, but she was too short. "I caught him myself. Go catch your own pokemon, meany!"

His brown eyes narrowed as he shoved the little girl back and she hit the sand with a small _thump. _A howl escaped from her throat as she really began to sob. "Listen you little-"

"You little what, bro?" a voice asked from behind the man. A blue-haired young man in his early twenties stood with his arms crossed. Behind him was a machamp, whose arms were all crossed. His eyes were narrowed just as his trainer's were. "I think you were just going to give Kayla her pokemon back, right?"

The man's eyes widened and he began to run, but unfortunately for him, so did Machamp. The pudgy man was no match for the muscled pokemon, whose trainer was smirking triumphantly in the background as he dialed a number on his Crosstransceiver. "Hi there, listen, some garbage washed up on my shore and it needs to be taken back out. …Yeah, I know this is the fourth this week. Thanks, mate, we really appreciate Rustboro's help." Still smirking, he hung up. Machamp had easily apprehended the man, who was scowling furiously. "I'll take that mawile now, as well as the supplies you stole from the Pokemon Center. You really didn't think that a little girl's pokemon and a few potions were going to make you _that _much money, did you?"

"Enough to get the hell out of here!" he roared. He struggled against the machamp's arms, but the pokemon didn't even budge. In fact, he looked quite bored by the overweight middle-aged man.

"Pathetic, man," the younger man remarked. He shook his head and sighed. "Damn swamp monkeys."

* * *

"I don't know if I'm just saying this because I'm super exhausted, but this place is beautiful. Is it bedtime yet?" Sawyer asked with a yawn.

Delaney glanced down at her Crosstransceiver. "Sawyer, it's 2:08 in the afternoon. Stop being a baby."

"We had to wake up at like, five to get here," Sawyer said, yawning again as if proving a point. "And we've walked all over the city and you haven't even met with the gym leader and I'm exhausted. Can I just go to bed, Del?"

"Nobody made you come," Delaney pointed out, stifling a yawn herself. If she yawned, that meant Sawyer won. "And we've walked a block. Stop being so damn whiney; you're going to drive me nuts."

"Well, a block in this city feels like a whole city," Sawyer said defiantly, though he continued to walk (without yawning, Delaney noticed). "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that Rustboro is in pretty good shape," Delaney said, inspecting each building they walked by. One could tell that Rustboro hadn't received much damage because the architecture was so old and classic- if they had been forced to rebuild, many of the buildings would have looked more modern. You could tell where a few roofs had caved, where windows had shattered and where doors had splintered, because parts of these things looked completely out of place. The worst damage was in the northern area where a few houses had flooded and had to be gutted and rebuilt (and were in the process of doing so), but other than these things, Rustboro had barely been touched by the tragedies that had overtaken so many other cities.

When Delaney had gone from ordinary trainer to building inspector, she didn't know, but she was rather enjoying herself as she marveled upon the lovely older buildings of Rustboro. As she and Sawyer passed an old church with stained glass windows, she was reminded of home, of Hearthrome, and the church where her father had dragged her to weddings and parties and formal events when she was growing up. She smiled a bit to herself and kept her eyes on the building as the two continued walking.

Sawyer, of course, couldn't have been less interested. "So when are you supposed to meet with the gym leader?"

"I actually have a meeting with her at the gym in about fifteen minutes," Delaney said. "Now I'm just trying to figure out which one of these buildings is the gym."

As it turned out, the Rustboro gym was not incredibly hard to find, as the giant slabs of rock that composed the gym stuck out from the lovely ornate buildings that composed most of Rustboro. "Hmm, I wonder what she trains," Sawyer said sarcastically.

"Bug-types, Sawyer, obviously," Delaney said with a chuckle as she looked upon the gym. "I'm going to go in there and hope this doesn't take too much time. Where are you going?"

"You mean I don't have to go with you?" Sawyer asked, his eyes lighting up. "Well, in that case, I'm going to rent a room from the Pokemon Center for the afternoon and take a nap."

Delaney couldn't help but laugh. "Jeez Sawyer, have fun with your nap. I'll meet up with you there later." The auburn-haired boy hardly even waved goodbye before he left, nearly running in the direction of Rustboro's Pokemon Center (most certainly moving faster than he had all day). As Delaney began to walk towards the gym, she couldn't help but yawn and be glad that Sawyer wasn't there to see her.

A young girl was standing by the statues at the entrance, fidgeting with her plaid skirt. Her light brown hair was held back by a maroon headband and her wide green eyes were fixated on her shoes. She very clearly didn't notice Delaney's presence. The older brunette coughed pointedly to let the girl know she was there. The girl looked up sharply. "Hi," she said simply.

"Hi! I'm Delaney!" Delaney said with a forced wide smile. Inwardly, she was really hoping for a short meeting.

"I'm Sarah," the younger girl said. "Welcome to Rustboro."

"Thanks!" Delaney said, forcing her smile a little harder. There was an awkward pause as neither girl said anything. "So you train rock-types then?" the older brunette asked, struggling to find something to say.

"No," she said, beginning to fidget with her skirt again. "Roxanne did. She was my teacher and the gym leader, but she moved to Johto."

"I see," Delaney said. She couldn't help but wonder if this Roxanne had really made the right decision in appointing a new gym leader. This little girl was sweet, but she hardly looked capable of running a city. "What kind of pokemon do you train, Sarah?"

"Electric," she said, finally breaking a grin. "Wanna see?"

Delaney had to chuckle at the younger girl's enthusiasm. "Sure!"

Sarah released three pokemon- two little mouse pokemon that reminded Delaney strongly of Pikachu and a green and yellow dog who was letting off small flickers of electricity from his fur. She smiled proudly at Delaney. "This is Plus and Minus," she said, gesturing to the two wannabe Pikas. "And this is Spark!" Judging by the plus and minus signs on the cheeks of the two mice and the sparks being emitted by the dog, this was clearly creative naming. Delaney chuckled at herself a bit- well, until she realized that she wasn't sure if she was pleased with her sarcastic brilliance or if she was laughing at a child, which was mean, so she stopped.

"Well it's very nice to meet Plus, Minus and Spark," the older brunette said cordially. "So Sarah, can we talk about Rustboro for a bit?"

"Of course," she said, suddenly appearing quite a bit older. "We should probably meet with Mr. Stone. He's been helping me a lot."

"Sure, I'll call Steven right up," Delaney said, pulling out her Crosstransceiver. She had to admit, she was more than a little surprised that Steven hadn't mentioned that or offered to come with her to begin with, but hey, it was none of her business.

"Not Champion Mr. Stone," Sarah said quickly. "The other Mr. Stone."

"Oh," Delaney said, blushing. "Of course there's more than one Stone in the region of Hoenn… I just though… Never mind."

"His office is just down the street," Sarah said. "He told me to stop by any time, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Okay, sounds great!" Delaney replied. "Let's go see him!" And hopefully get this done as soon as they possibly could... Hopefully.

* * *

Despite Sarah's assurance that this Mr. Stone had told her to stop by any time, the young blonde secretary of Mr. Stone nearly had a heart attack when Delaney and Sarah had shown up and announced that they would like to see Mr. Stone. "But you don't have an appointment!" she nearly shrieked. "He's in a meeting!"

"We can wait," Sarah said, looking the blonde girl square in the eye. "But I would appreciate if you called him now to let him know we're here. Let him know _Gym Leader _Sarah Barnes is here, accompanied by _Elite Four _member Delaney Caldwell." At the mention of Delaney, the secretary picked up the phone, pounding on the keys as she frantically tried to get a hold of her employer.

"Oh shit," Delaney muttered to herself, wide-eyed. "Pretend I didn't just say that," she said sternly to her younger companion. "Sarah, how old are you?"

"Eleven," she said proudly.

"Do you know how bada- awesome you just were? You told that secretary what was up!" Delaney said, impressed.

"I've been in here three times and she acts like this every single time. He needs a new secretary," the younger girl said with a shrug.

Delaney was definitely more convinced than she had been at first about how capable Sarah was in leading Rustboro- she may have been shy at first, but she was definitely a lot more grown-up than Delaney had originally given her credit for. She was about to say as much when the blonde stood up, apparently off the phone. "Mr. Stone asked me to escort you in. Apparently they were about to take a break anyways," she said huffily. Delaney and Sarah exchanged quick grins and began to follow her back, though she was still muttering to herself about what a busy man Mr. Stone was and how people couldn't just waltz in without appointments. Delaney caught Sarah rolling her eyes and chuckled to herself. She wasn't about to argue with the fact that this secretary _was _remarkably high-maintenance.

The room that the secretary escorted them to was much larger than necessary for the sort of meeting that was occurring. A stocky man with silver spiked hair in a blue striped suit sat at the head of a long conference table, a familiar glint in his eye (though why it was familiar to Delaney, she had no idea). Next to him sat a muscular man with emerald green hair, kind blue eyes and tan skin in a blue police uniform. The final chair at the long table was occupied by a slender girl who was clearly the offspring of the second man, as she had his same emerald hair, though hers was long and in a ponytail, and wide blue eyes. Her coloring was much lighter than his and she obviously wasn't nearly as buff. She looked younger than Delaney, but older than Sarah- Delaney would guess somewhere between 14 and 16. Her eyes widened as soon as Delaney walked into the room and her mouth dropped. "Arceus, no freaking way," she said, a huge grin spreading across her face.

"Jody, that's enough," the buff man said sternly.

"Welcome," the grey-haired man said with a friendly smile (which Delaney also found oddly familiar). "Good to see you again, Miss Barnes, and very nice to meet you, Miss Caldwell. My name is Pierce Stone, and this is Police Chief Joe Aarons and his daughter Jody."

"Nice to meet you all," Delaney said cordially.

"My son did mention you'd be stopping by, but I didn't realize it would be so soon. I guess we're the first stop on your list," Mr. Stone said with a chuckle.

"Your-" Delaney began, and then a spark of realization hit her. "Oh! Steven!" she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't put two and two together."

"Well he certainly has carved out a place for himself outside the family business," Mr. Stone said with a smile, though there was a hint of strain behind his eyes. "Though that's a topic for another time. We're all terribly busy people, especially you, I'm sure, Miss Caldwell, so let's cut to the chase- the rebuilding. Have you had a chance to walk the city yet?"

Talk about cutting to the chase- Mr. Stone really didn't waste any time. Delaney could hardly argue, seeing as how she wanted to get out as soon as possible. "Most of it, I haven't gotten to the southern edge of the city yet, but something tells me that there are no issues."

Mr. Stone shook his head. "All of our major problems were with the northern part of town. We have the ocean to the west of us, though there are several dams up at the edge of the city limits, which saved our west side from being utterly destroyed- lucky for us, as this building would've been wiped out. The dams end where the limits to the north end, though, so water washed up from route 115 to the north and it got some of our edge houses. As you can see, though, those houses are being rebuilt from the ground up."

"I did notice rebuilding," Delaney said, remembering the houses that looked so out of place from the classic architecture of the rest of the city. "I also noticed that spots of other buildings that had been mildly damaged had been repaired as well."

"Good eye, Miss Caldwell," he said, a twinkle in his eyes. "We felt this was an opportunity to fix some existing problems as well, as we were fortunate enough to not have been the brunt of much of the damage. The last thing we would like to fix is redesigning the gym, though Steven has told me that all of the new gym leaders will be evaluated before the gym circuit opens back up, so before we make it to Sarah's liking, we'd like to make sure we keep her."

"I don't see where she would have any problems," Delaney said, smiling warmly at the younger girl, who beamed back at her. She paused, thinking about all of the things that Steven had gone over in their meeting. "What about crime?"

"I think that's your area of expertise, Joe," Mr. Stone said. "Please, go ahead and take over."

Chief Aarons chuckled, a low rumbling sound. "Thanks, Pierce," he said. "And a pleasure to meet you, by the way, Miss Caldwell. As far as crime goes, we have indeed been fortunate. Right after the storms, the city was in a bit of chaos, as all of Hoenn was, and that was when we had a surge of crime- mainly just theft, a lot of looting, though we did see some violent crime. Since then, we haven't seen any more than usual. People know that Rustboro's police force is more active than most cities and this is not the place to come to commit a crime, as you will be caught and prosecuted in a swift manner." As he talked, he clenched his hands and Delaney's eyes widened. These people definitely knew what they were doing and they were making her job remarkably easy.

"Is there anything else regarding the rebuilding that you think I should know about?" Delaney asked, her eyes shifting from Mr. Stone to Chief Aarons to Sarah and then to Jody. Delaney couldn't exactly figure out why she was there, as she seemed much too old for her father to be babysitting her while he worked, but Delaney supposed that wasn't her place to judge. It wasn't like it was a problem, seeing as how she hasn't said a word, but it stuck out to her as weird.

"I think we covered everything," Mr. Stone said with a wide smile. "I think Chief Aarons, Jody and I should get back to our meeting. She's here as a representative for Petalburg to discuss an issue with the rebuilding," he said pointedly.

"Are you a gym leader?" Delaney asked curiously.

"No, just a gym trainer, but Norman and Brendan had an emergency to deal with, so they sent me instead," she said shyly, toying with her ponytail.

"Well I'm sure I'll be seeing you when I get to Petalburg then," she said, forcing her groans inward. An emergency? Apparently Petalburg was going to have a lot of issues for her to deal with. Great. Just great.

"Petalburg _is _the closest city to Rustboro, you know," Chief Aarons stated. "Maybe you might want to make that your next stop. It's a quick walk from here. Norman should be finished with whatever he's dealing with by the time you get there."

"Sounds good," Delaney said. "I appreciate the input. I can't say I know much about Hoenn and I'm terrible with maps, so any help I can get navigating is probably a good thing."

"Well if you need any help in Petalburg, just let me know!" Jody said, the spark of excitement returning to her eyes. "I'd be really glad to help you out!"

"Thanks, Jody," she said with a smile on her face, though slightly forced. She had to admit, the enthusiasm weirded her out a bit (though really, with her tendency to get lost, she should gladly take any help she could get). She turned to face the room and stood up. Sarah, too, stood up. Delaney couldn't help but notice that despite her earlier sass, she had once again become silent upon entering the meeting room. "It was very nice to meet you all, and I apologize for interrupting your meeting."

"Oh, it was no problem! I've told Miss Barnes that she is welcome here any time, and I extend the same offer to you, Miss Caldwell. If you ever need anything, please let me know," Mr. Stone said warmly.

"Thank you, and have a good rest of your day," Delaney said politely. She and Sarah walked back towards the door and as soon as they opened it, the secretary pounced on them once again.

"Please, let me escort you back to the front area," she said in a clearly fake sugary sweet voice that was basically stating that she was just guaranteeing that they didn't have _one last thing _to tell Mr. Stone and go back in there.

"We can find our way out, thanks," Delaney said in a much more sarcastic tone. She put on a fake smile to rival all fake smiles (including the secretary's) and waved. "Have a positively lovely day!" she said and shut the door behind them as they headed to the elevator. "Bitch." She turned to Sarah, whose eyes had widened. "Don't repeat that. You are way too young to be saying such things. Just think them instead."

"Yes, Miss Caldwell," she said sweetly with a knowing grin at Delaney.

"Seriously, Sarah, you can call me Delaney," she said. The two stepped into the elevator and began to head down. "Well, I appreciate how quickly that meeting went. Do _you _have any more questions for me?"

"What was it like to battle Team Galactic?" the young brunette asked, looking up at Delaney with wide eyes.

"Questions about rebuilding? Rustboro? Being a gym leader?" Delaney clarified, biting her lip. Really, Sarah just _had _to ask…

"What's it like being an Elite Four member?" she asked as they stepped off the elevator and into the main lobby.

"It's fun!" Delaney said, forcing herself to muster up some sort of excitement, even though really, she had only been to one meeting as an Elite Four member and had yet to see any perks that supposedly came with the position (unless you counted the visits with Dr. Reynolds as a perk, which Delaney did not). "I like it!"

"Is Steven as handsome in person?" she asked shyly, blushing. She turned away from Delaney and focused on the doors as they walked out and began to head back in the direction of the gym.

"Totally," Delaney said with a wink. "Am I allowed to say that?" She paused and thought about it. "I'm not sure if I am or not, but regardless, that stays between us."

"Got it," Sarah giggled. "You look pretty with brown hair."

"Thanks!" Delaney said, though she was confused. "I've had brown hair for awhile now- three and a half years? Something like that."

"You had blonde hair in most of the pictures I've seen of you," Sarah said. "You looked meaner then."

Delaney chuckled. "That's probably pretty accurate." Not like she had much to smile about in her Sinnoh journey, unless you count…

Not like Delaney did, of course. Not in the aftermath.

"You're really nice though, and really pretty. I hope I'm a trainer like you when I grow up. I've always wanted to be part of the Elite 4 and now that I'm a gym leader, that could really happen," the young girl said, her eyes sparkling.

"I think you're going to be a great gym leader, and one day you'll be a great Elite 4 member too," Delaney said with a warm smile. "But trust me, you probably don't want to be a trainer like me." Before Sarah could ask questions, Delaney once again opened her mouth. "Any last questions? I think we're about done here."

"I think we're done," Sarah said. "It was nice to meet you!"

"It was nice to meet you too," Delaney said, her face once again breaking out into a smile. Though Delaney normally didn't like children (really, anybody younger than 14 or 15 got on her nerves), she had taken a shine to Sarah. She was a good mix of sassy and totally sweet. "Take care, Sarah." And with that, she headed back south towards the Pokemon Center to wake Sawyer up from his nap and figure out what her next move was. Something was telling her that it involved a little place called Petalburg.

* * *

Delaney didn't make it all the way back to the Pokemon Center. Sawyer hadn't made it all the way back either, and she could tell that he hadn't had his nap by the bags gathering under his eyes and his increasingly sarcastic attitude. This wasn't a surprise to Delaney, as Sawyer was prone to make plans and not follow through, but what did surprise her was what had distracted Sawyer from his nap (or more likely, the sightseeing and possible ice cream that would have distracted him regardless). Sitting on a bench outside of the Pokemon Center was not only her auburn-haired friend, but a short redheaded boy who was remarkably familiar, though of course, he had grown up some in the three years she had last seen him. "Nicolai!" she said, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"Hi… Delaney!" he said, friendly, although, like most people she had met in Unova, confused about what to call her.

"Long time no see," she said with a smile. "You've gotten taller, kid."

Nicolai shrugged. "Long time no see indeed."

"What are you doing in Rustboro?" she asked. "Burgh mentioned that you were working with him."

"Yeah, we're working on a fundraiser to help out with the rebuilding," Nicolai said. "He asked me to go around and try to find donors and to also start with the project portion of it."

"Project portion?" Delaney asked. "I don't think Burgh mentioned that."

"He's still working out the details with Steven," the young redhaired boy explained. "But we don't think he'll see know. Basically, we're going to throw a party or something like that in Evergrande, but we're also doing an art project. Burgh thought it would be cool if we collected images of Hoenn rebuilding to show that everything's going to be alright," he said, his eyes lighting up. It was clear that Burgh was not the only one passionate about this project. "So we're going to take pictures, do a few sketches, paintings, all of that stuff and allow people to purchase it and that money will go towards the rebuilding fund too."

"That's really cool, Nicolai!" she exclaimed. "Did you find anything you wanted to take a picture of here?"

"Nah, most of Rustboro is in really good shape," he responded. "I'm just looking for donors. Burgh said that was really important."

A lightbulb went off over Delaney's head. "I just had a meeting with the chief of police and a really important businessman and I think they'd both be willing to help. Make sure to stop right in. Their office loves visitors," she said with a bit of a bit of a devilish grin.

"Thanks, I'll check it out! I think I'm going to stay here for a few days…" he stated. "But I am going to head off to the gym and see if the gym leader might be willing to donate, or at least help with the fundraiser. Burgh said it's very important for gym leaders to step up as the leaders of their cities."

Delaney couldn't help but break out into a grin at that statement. The gym leaders (especially Burgh) had really set Unova apart from Sinnoh originally- instead of shirking duty, they were all more than happy to help Delaney whenever she needed it. "Well I think you'll like their gym leader. She's very nice."

"That's good to know. Nice to see you again," he said with a friendly smile and wave at Delaney. "Bye, Sawyer! Thanks for the talk!" And with that, the small redheaded boy disappeared as he ran towards the direction of Sarah's gym.

"You had a talk, eh?" Delaney said, raising an eyebrow. "I shudder to think of what you're teaching the youth."

"I make sure not to teach them anything. I can see that being trouble," Sawyer said, wrinkling his nose. "He mainly just chatted my ear off but _boy! _Do I have interesting news for you! So Team Plasma…"

"What about them?" Delaney said, her smile immediately turning upside down.

"I'm sure you remember as well as I do- remember how there was often that grunt with the red hair and the bangs?" Sawyer asked.

"Sawyer, with all the Team Plasma members I battled _three years ago_, do you really think I specifically remember any of them not named N or Ghetsis?"

"I know you know who I'm talking about. He was at Dragonspiral Tower and he had that darmanitan…" Sawyer's voice trailed off, as it was clear he was hoping to steer the conversation away from Dragonspiral Tower.

"Joshua." The name came to Delaney quickly. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about now. What about him?"

"Did you know that's Nicolai's _brother?" _Sawyer asked, his eyes widening.

Delaney's jaw dropped. "No way!"

"Yes way. Apparently now he's helping out the Unovan resistance though. He got away from Team Plasma somehow."

"Well that's… great," she said. "Wow."

Just hours ago, Delaney had been begging Burgh for information on Unova. Now that she finally had some, she didn't want to discuss it any longer. "So according to Chief Aarons, my next stop is going to be Petalburg. It's apparently a quick walk from here so if we start now, we can probably make it before the Pokemon Center closes."

"Delaney, seriously, do you really think even if it was closed that they wouldn't open their doors right back up for Delaney Caldwell?" Sawyer asked sarcastically. "And how quick of a walk?"

"I don't know, I've never walked it before," Delaney said. "We'll see."

* * *

Two hours later, evening was beginning to creep up on the two as they headed through Petalburg Forest. "A quick walk, she said. There before the Pokemon Center closes, she said," Sawyer muttered to himself as he focused on walking on the already beaten path.

"Hey, it can't be much further," Delaney protested. "Stop being so whiny."

"Why oh why did I not stay in Evergrande?" Sawyer asked no one in particular.

"Beats me," Delaney shrugged. "Maybe you just love me too much to let me suffer out in the world alone while you relax by the pool."

"I would_not_be by the pool," Sawyer quickly insisted. "Not with that scary shark thing with the teeth and… well, the teeth were the really scary part."

"There is nothing in the forest that is scarier than that, I'm sure," Delaney said, glancing around the forest. All they had seen mostly was wurmples (which Delaney remembered from her days in Sinnoh), small little mushroom type pokemon and one small brown mammal that was sleeping in a tree. As far as forests went, Petalburg's forest was relatively tame.

Within ten minutes, light flooded their path and trees became much scarcer, which Delaney took to mean they were out of the forest. "See, Saw-"

She was interrupted before she could even finish saying Sawyer's name. A person a few inches taller than Delaney in black and red zoomed past the two into the forest. They were running so fast that Delaney couldn't even tell if the person was male or female, much less what they looked like. As quickly as they came, they were gone, disappeared into the forest, leaving Delaney and Sawyer to stare at each other in wonder.

"What the hell was _that_?" Sawyer asked, staring in the general direction the person had run off in.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's something I should call Steven about," Delaney said with a frown.

"I have a feeling it's something you should call Steven about in the morning, so we can focus on getting to Petalburg and _getting to bed._"

Delaney said nothing for a moment, mulling the idea over, and finally she nodded. "Touche, Sawyer. I think you've made a pretty solid point."

"Well, Del, I've always been the brains of this operation and it's high time you recognize that," Sawyer said with a smirk and with that, he began walking once again. It was obvious that he was more than slightly eager to get to Petalburg, and Delaney was too, so she also began walking.

"That's you, Sawyer. The brains," she said sarcastically. Sawyer just laughed and the two walked towards Petalburg as the calls of night pokemon began to fill the silence. All in a day's work, right?

* * *

**Author's Note (7/25): **Dear readers, it is 12:04 and I'm at work posting this lovely chapter for you. Approximately twelve hours ago, around midnight, I was finishing up writing this chapter so please please forgive me for taking awhile with the last chapter.

Although I'm pretty sure I'm the last one upset about that, because you guys have been so wonderful- I really appreciate the kindness and support I've been shown by you lovely readers in light of my crazy family problems.

Thanks as always to **ej92 **for allowing me to use Nicolai and Joshua (well, the mention of Joshua, in this case) and a huge thank you to my beta **Noteleks**. (:

Oh, and biggest thanks to you guys, for reading and (potentially) reviewing! You really have no idea how you make my day.

The next update _may_ take a bit longer than a week, as I have my giant research report due on the 2nd, which is next Thursday. I'm not anticipating it, as it should be done Sunday, with revisions being made through all next week, but there is the possibility, so please be aware of that.

But yeah, thanks for reading and see you next week, lovely readers!

~DAT


	4. 03: Ready to Start

_My father's name is Blake Caldwell. People call him "Mr. Backlot" because he's a bigshot lawyer who focuses mainly on developing properties. His parents bought the mansion on route 212 because they wanted a big family, but they only had my father, who inherited it when they retired to a villa in northern Sinnoh. Most of the house hasn't been touched since my mother lived there._

_My father is a nice man, but he's very serious. He takes his business very seriously and comes home still in "business mode" sometimes. His biggest joy in life is his garden full of pokemon. He has a lot of rare ones imported from other regions and he loves going out there and playing with them. He opens up the garden to passing trainers as well, because he says that he enjoys sharing his pride and joy. My father and I are very close, and the idea of something bad happening to him terrifies me. He was really all I had growing up, besides the care of a few maids, and so I don't even want to picture something happening to him._

_My mother's name is Lydia White (formerly Caldwell). She and my father are so different that it's hard to believe they were ever married. Whereas my father is all business, my mother is very relaxed and sort of without direction. She moved back to Nuvema Town after the divorce and works as a sometimes-assistant to Professor Juniper. She is very compassionate, sometimes taking in pokemon that the professor has no room for, like her venipede, Vinny. My mother and I had no contact from the time she moved out until I moved in with her three years ago for a brief time. I was really angry at her for a long time. I ignored her letters and calls and I was really rather rude to her when I first got there. Lydia is so compassionate and kind, though, that it's hard to be rude to her. She was really great support through my journey through Unova. There's no way she will ever be able to make up the years she wasn't there, and I will never forget them, but that doesn't mean I can't forgive. We just kind of had to build a relationship from the ground up._

_I miss them._

* * *

**Chapter 03: Ready to Start**

The Crosstransceiver in Delaney's hand rang for the third time as Sawyer snored in the background, completely oblivious to the fact that Delaney was awake and had been for hours. Both of their pokemon were sprawled sleeping around the room of the Pokemon Center and as Delaney stared out at the bodies in deep slumber, it almost felt like a journey all over again, and the brunette trainer looked on with a rueful smile and a strong sense of déjà vu. If she was to take a picture of the scene in front of her, it would be nearly impossible to guess whether or not it had been taken in Unova during her journey around the region as Christa White, but of course, Delaney would be able to tell the difference.

The pokemon that were spread out among the room asleep were not the same- well, for the most part they weren't. Delaney's pokemon had most been in either their first or second stage forms when she had left Unova, with the exception of Perry and Alec, who had evolved in her last gym battle there. In the time that she had been away from Unova, they had all evolved, and Delaney had added one more to her team, a peaceful bird with her fluffy body curled in a ball on Delaney's pillow, humming softly even in her sleep. Grace, a cheerful altaria that was a bit smaller than most of her kind, had been caught on her second day in Hoenn and Delaney was still trying to get her up to speed with the rest of her pokemon, though she had thus far flown through training with flying colors.

Not only had the forms of her pokemon changed, but Sawyer's entire line-up had been altered upon leaving Unova. He had stayed a year and a half longer than she had, trying to help put together an Unovan resistance against Teams Plasma and Galactic and in the end, he had lost his pokemon to a "purple-haired Galactic wench with an attitude" (Sawyer's words, not hers) that she knew had to be Jupiter. Instead of the semisear, excadrill and galvantula that he had been training for years, his team was now mostly Johto pokemon that he had picked up while looking for Delaney there. An elegant ninetails was at Sawyer's feet as he snored and his flaaffy was in the chair next to him. Muffin the breloom, his one Hoenn companion, was under his bed and his noctowl was in the small coat closet, as the room wasn't dark enough for her tastes. Sawyer's gyarados, Fluffy, was back in Evergrande, as he was really only happy playing in the large pool (and you really didn't want to see Fluffy when he wasn't happy).

Even Sawyer himself had changed. Sure, he was still full of sarcastic quips, dry humor and a tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time, but there was a more serious glint that appeared from time to time behind his stoic brown eyes. They had never once talked about what had gone on in the year and a half they hadn't spoken and truth be told, Delaney had no desire to know. All she knew was that she had been walking up the stairs to her room in the Ecruteak Pokemon Center when she had heard a loud "Delaney!" from down below. She stopped at the top of the stairs and watched in wonder as her auburn-haired former companion ran up the stairs and wrapped her in a huge hug that had lasted for what seemed like years. After he let go, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Your hair is still brown" (which reminded her way too much of Dax) and since then, they had been inseparable.

"Delaney?" she heard say questioningly and she looked down at the Crosstransceiver to see Steven staring up at her, clearly puzzled. She turned bright red, wondering how long he had been trying to get her attention while she stared out at the room.

"Sorry, I was just… distracted," she apologized. "I was just calling to discuss my findings from Rustboro yesterday. I got in rather late to Petalburg and thought it was best to wait until morning to give you a call."

"That's fine, Miss Caldwell," he said with a kind smile. "I've already been in contact with Sarah, and apparently you made quite an impression."

"A good impression, or a bad impression?" she asked, a bit worried.

"Oh, most definitely good," he assured her. "Though apparently you left the secretary of the Devon Corp in a tizzy."

Delaney chuckled. "That sounds about right. Rustboro looks fine, though. I have no concerns… But something happened last night that I think you should know about." Steven raised his eyebrows, but said nothing, so Delaney opted to continue. "Sawyer and I were going through Petalburg Forest and somebody in red and black ran past us. They had a hood on though, so I couldn't really see what they looked like. They looked kind of… suspicious, like they were running from something. But maybe it's nothing?" All of the sudden, she felt very young and dumb. She had called up Steven to tell him about somebody _running past them._ How stupid did she sound?

Thankfully, though, Steven didn't appear to feel that way. His kind smile turned into a worried grimace. "Did you say red and black? With a hood?"

"Yeah… Or at least that's what it looked like. They were running so fast that I couldn't even tell if it was a male or female."

"It sounds like Team Magma to me," he said. "I'll put Riley on alert. Thank you for letting me know about that, Delaney."

"Oh, of course," she said, feeling herself turn a bit red and cursing the video screen on the crosstransceivers.

"So today is Petalburg, then?" he asked. "The gym leader should also be taking care of Oldale and Littleroot to the east, so make sure to ask about them and visit if you have time."

Delaney made a mental note to do so. "Of course, sir. Is there anything else?"

"I don't know if you've made plans already for tomorrow, but I would really like you to go to Slateport and then Mauville," he said. "Slateport was hit very hard and I haven't had time to get down there with all of the rest of the chaos. The gym leader of Mauville should be taking care of it." Delaney nodded, waiting for anything further. "And don't call me sir," he said, his smile returning. "Don't hesitate to call if you have any questions or concerns."

"Yes s… Steven," she said with a grin, catching herself before calling him sir again.

"Take care, Delaney," he said and with that, the face on the Crosstransceiver disappeared. Delaney looked around the room and was surprised to see that all were still sleeping soundly. She looked at the clock on the Crosstransceiver. It was still only nine, but Delaney had been awake for hours, so it felt like much later. She sighed and decided to leave them be, but that didn't mean she was going to stay still. She grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom to get changed.

Delaney wasted no time getting ready, taking a quick shower and then throwing on a red t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. She grabbed a rubber band and put her hair into a messy ponytail. She made a face at her reflection in the mirror before bending down to grab the pajamas she had so haphazardly thrown off in an attempt to get ready quickly. She definitely didn't look so hot, but she wasn't really trying to impress on that level, so she decided to let it go. She grabbed her stuff and headed back into the room, tossing it back into the corner she had gotten it from. All that was left was to put on her sneakers and head out.

In her getting ready chaos, she hadn't noticed that one of the slumbering entities in the room had finally woken up. As she sat on the ground putting on her shoes, a long, dark blue eel-like pokemon opened her red eyes and blinked at Delaney, who was sitting rather close to where the pokemon had been laying. She slunk across the floor to slide next to her trainer, who looked up in surprise that anyone was awake at all. "Good morning Annie!" she said with a smile at the eelektross. After six months of training, Delaney had named the then-eelektrik after Little Orphan Annie, seeing as how Delaney had found her when she had been abandoned by her school in Chargestone Cave. It had been much easier for her to show affection when she was smaller, but now that she stood at nearly seven feet and weighed over 175 pounds, her affections were limited to sliding next to Delaney and curling up around her (a sort of hug, if you will).

The eelektross was much more docile in nature than most and she was more than content to just lay there while Delaney put her sneakers on. When she was done, she lazily put a hand on Annie and gave her a quick pat. Sitting down had put her in much less of a hurry to get things done.

She knew she had to, though, and so she got up, said goodbye to Annie and left with only her Crosstransceiver in tow. She made her way down the stairs of the Pokemon Center quickly and headed out the door without acknowledging any of the glances given to her by people surely wondering what Delaney Caldwell was doing in the Pokemon Center of Petalburg City.

When she and Sawyer had arrived the night before, she hadn't really looked around, but now that the sun was shining and Delaney was wide awake, she glanced around. The gym was in plain sight less than five minutes away, so really, she didn't need to pass through the streets on her way there like she had in Rustboro. It wasn't really necessary on any level, really- as far as the eye could see were perfectly intact buildings with shining fresh coats with paint and lovely foliage surrounding each structure. The only sign of construction was at a lake close by, where stone structures were going up. Though it had been hinted at that Petalburg was in bad shape when she was in Rustboro, there was not a single place that Delaney could see that had anything wrong with it. Petalburg was good to go, as far as Delaney could tell.

She made the quick journey over to the gym, where automatic doors let her in to find an empty foyer with wooden floors and two doors leading to the back of the gym. There was no sign of life anywhere. Figuring that perhaps the gym leader was in the back, Delaney headed for the doors, but both were locked. Time for a new tactic. "Hello?" she called.

"Can I help you?" a young man's voice came over the intercom. Delaney jumped. She had never seen a gym with a system like this.

"I'm here to see the gym leader," Delaney called. She was forgetting what they had said his name was back in Rustboro, though she was sure they had mentioned it.

"We're not taking challengers at the moment," the young man's voice replied. "Sorry. Have a good day."

"I'm not here to challenge anyone," she called back. "My name is Delaney Caldwell. I'm uh… here to talk about rebuilding and… stuff."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the voice replied, suddenly sounding nervous. "I'll be right there."

Delaney stood in silence for a few minutes, looking around. On one of the walls, the only one that was not blank, was a list of challengers who had successfully won the Balance Badge. Delaney began to read down the list, eager for something to do. _Leslie… Tashi… Brendan… May… Wally… Quinn… Betsy…_

One of the doors suddenly flung open and a young man with dark hair and a white knit cap poked his head out. "Miss Caldwell, I'm _so_ sorry about that," he said, biting his lip. "Please come on back."

Delaney smiled at him as she followed his lead. "It's no problem, really. And please, call me Delaney."

"I'm Brendan!" he said, enthusiastically shaking her hand before leading her through a series of doors that led to the gym leader's chamber. A middle-aged man with dark hair and dark eyes sat in an armchair looking at the door, obviously expecting her.

"Oh, are you… both gym leaders?" Delaney asked, a bit confused.

"Brendan is my apprentice," the man in the chair said as he rose to greet her. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Norman."

"Nice to meet you, Norman," Delaney said with a courteous smile.

"Norman has already been asked by Steven to be a part of the Elite Four when the rebuilding is over," Brendan said. "I'll take over the gym when he does."

"We're not supposed to talk about that," Norman said curtly. "I take it you've had a chance to look around Petalburg?"

"Only briefly," Delaney admitted. "But from what I can tell, everything looks perfect. Why don't you tell me a bit about you guys have done?"

"We didn't really have much damage to begin with," Brendan stated. "We had some wind and rain damage to roofs, a couple windows were blown out and there was a little bit of flood damage from the lakes, but that was it."

"Very minor damage," Norman said with a nod.

"Our main problem has been with crime… At least until Norman and his zangoose took over. Things are in a lot better shape now… Mostly. Something _did_ happen yesterday," Brendan said with a frown.

"A home on the western side of town was broken into yesterday. Most of the household was gone, but one young man was still home and he was injured by the assailant," Norman said gravely. "We spent most of the afternoon trying to locate them and when we did, they took off running towards the Petalburg Forest. Brendan ran after them, but he couldn't catch them."

Brendan's face turned crimson with embarrassment. "They were really fast," he muttered under his breath.

"That must be who we saw in the woods!" Delaney said, thinking out loud. "My friend and I were coming out of the woods last night and somebody in red and black ran past us into the forest."

"I didn't even get a close enough look to see what they were wearing," Norman admitted. "But I'm sure that was them." He turned to Brendan. "Did you see them?"

"Yeah, they were in red and black," Brendan said, nodding. "I think it was a girl, but I'm not too sure because they had a hood on."

"We couldn't tell," Delaney said with a grimace. "How is the guy that was hurt?"

"Wally is fine. The worst of it seems to be a concussion from hitting his head getting out of bed," Norman said. "He's a frail young man anyways. Always has been, ever since we moved here."

"Wally? I wouldn't really call him frail anymore… He's taller than I am now," Brendan said.

"He pestered me for _weeks_ about helping him catch a pokemon when I first moved," Norman said with a chuckle. "Moved to Vendanturf with some relatives because he was sick, but he moved back after his journey. Got sick again, from what I heard from May. She was the one who ended up going with Wally to catch his pokemon and they became friends, but I think they lost touch awhile back. She's a lot more patient than her dad, that's for sure."

"Is your daughter a trainer, sir?" Delaney asked politely.

"One of the best," Norman said with a proud smile. "She's in the Hall of Fame for beating Steven Stone, but she turned down being Champion. Wanted to travel some more, she said… Her spot ended up going to that Wallace," he said disdainfully, his smile fading. "We're lucky that he's gone now and we've got Steven back. That man could've never led us through this. Corrupt son of a bitch."

"Tell her about the dams, Norman," Brendan jumped in with a big grin at Delaney. Something told her he had heard Norman's furious ranting about Wallace more than a few times. Delaney chuckled.

"My apologies," he said formally. "Yesterday one of our gym trainers, Jody, met with Mr. Stone of the Devon Corporation and he has agreed to help us with funding the creation of dams around the lakes in Petalburg to prevent any future flooding. We want to make sure Petalburg is as secure as can be for years to come."

"Wow," Delaney said, definitely impressed. Somehow, it hadn't occurred to her to ask about plans for the future when talking to Mr. Stone in Rustboro- he had seemed so on top of the building that it had seemed kind of a given that they were probably safeguarding against any incidents in the future. She definitely appreciated how open Norman and Brendan were about what exactly they were doing with their time.

"Is there anything else you need from us? I think we covered everything…" Norman said, looking at Delaney expectantly.

"We haven't talked about Oldale and Littleroot yet," Brendan said, shooting a look at Norman.

"Oh! My apologies, Miss Caldwell, I'm sure that was your next question," Norman said, looking a bit flustered for the first time since Delaney had arrived.

"…Yes," Delaney said with an awkward smile. Even though Steven had told her very specifically to ask about Oldale and Littleroot in their conversation, she had indeed completely forgotten about it. She was assuming that Oldale and Littleroot were other cities, but she wasn't totally sure. Maybe they were like the Twinleaf and Sandgem of Hoenn? "I'm not very familiar with Hoenn, do you think you could give me a bit of background information on them before you tell me about your work there?"

"Oh, of course," Norman said. "Littleroot is a small southeastern town where our local professor lives, as well as a couple other families- including mine. Oldale is another small town about five minutes north of Littleroot. Steven asked us to take care of any repairs that needed to be made to both Littleroot and Oldale because we're the closest gym leader to them. Since I've been doing a lot of work here, Brendan's been in charge of Oldale and Littleroot. He's doing a great job."

"Thanks," Brendan said, a bright, satisfied smile coming to his face. "I haven't really run into problems in either place… Littleroot just had a few broken windows from strong winds and Oldale had some flooding from the north… Less than five minutes away from Oldale is a waterway that connects to the other side of route 103 by Slateport… So with the storms, it was kind of inevitable that some flooding would happen, but it's mostly taken care of. Steven said since the waterways aren't a part of Oldale, he would make sure some sort of dam is installed up there. All of the buildings have been painted and had some minor repairs, so they actually look better than they did, especially my dad's lab!"

"Lab?" she asked, curious. "What does your father do?"

"Brendan's dad is Professor Birch. For awhile it looked like May was going over the gym one day, but Brendan showed real initiative when it came to training with me and May ended up wanting to travel, so it all worked out!" Norman said with a glance at Brendan that could almost be described as fatherly.

"That's great!" Delaney said. She stood up, ready to call it a day. Clearly they knew what they were doing in Petalburg. "Is there anything else you can think of? Or is there anything you need from me? Any questions?"

"I think we covered everything," Norman said, relegating back to his more formal tone of earlier. "Thank you for stopping by to see us, Miss Caldwell."

"Of course! It was a pleasure to meet you both!" Delaney said, stopping to shake both Norman's hand and Brendan's. She moved to walk towards the door.

"I'll walk you out," Brendan said. "I need to head back to Littleroot."

"Tell May to give me a call!" Norman called behind them as the two young adults exited.

"Going to see Norman's daughter, eh?" Delaney said with a teasing grin. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No!" Brendan said quickly, turning bright red. "May has been my best friend since her family moved to Hoenn!"

"Best friend, eh?" Delaney raised her eyebrows. "That blush does _not_ say best friend to me, Brendan. It's okay, though, your secret's safe with me."

Brendan most definitely looked embarrassed and he swallowed hard as he began walking away from the gym. "Thanks. It was nice to meet you… I guess since you're an Elite Four member, I'll be seeing you again sometime."

"Looking forward to it, Brendan!" Delaney called back to him as they separated and Delaney headed towards the Pokemon Center. It was a quick walk and within moments Delaney was going through the door and bounding up the stairs to her room.

"Del!" she heard from below her. The brunette turned around to see Sawyer sitting on a couch in the main lobby with both of their bags. His shirt was scorched at the bottom.

Delaney hurried back down the stairs. "Sawyer! What happened?!"

"We may or may not have gotten kicked out of our room," Sawyer said with a nervous smile.

"What did you do?" Delaney asked, crossing her arms and looking down at Sawyer. "Were you trying to play with Marvel again? I told you that she hates hide and seek. It makes her angry."

"No, I learned my lesson after what happened in Olivine," Sawyer said with a grimace.

"I've never seen an old woman so angry…" Delaney said thoughtfully. "But anyways, stop side-stepping this. What happened?"

"You were the one who brought up Marvel!" Sawyer argued, still avoiding the issue at hand.

"Sawyer," Delaney said, her tone clearly meaning business.

"It wasn't my fault!" he groaned. "It's just that Flapjack has a cold." Flapjack was Sawyer's flaaffy, and also his partner in crime in most of his '_accidents'._

"What does Flapjack having a cold have to do with you getting us kicked out of our room?" Delaney asked.

"He may or may not have started a small electrical fire," Sawyer said, cringing as he looked up at Delaney. "And we may or may not have thought it was a good idea for Perry to put it out and Perry kinda sorta blew a window out with the water he shot at the fire."

"Is that all?" Delaney asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Well, there's a possibility that we may have been playing electric shock tag with Annie and Flapjack sneezed and got a curtain instead of Annie, but my memory is kind of fuzzy."

Delaney groaned and shook her head. "I'm going to take your word on this because you really couldn't have made this up." She flopped down on the couch next to Sawyer and looked him in the eye. "Sawyer Hale, what am I going to do with you?"

"Not leaving me alone in Pokemon Center rooms while you do business is probably a good start," he said seriously. "We both know I haven't matured at all in the last couple years."

It was hard to believe that hours before Delaney had been pondering over the changes in Sawyer. Yes, he had been forced to grow up some with what had happened in Unova, but mature? Never. Delaney sighed. "This is true. It's a good thing we're getting going to leave for Slateport in a moment and we can stay in their Pokemon Center… Or did you get us kicked out of all of them?"

"Nope, just this one!" Sawyer said proudly. "We should probably get moving though. That nurse is not at _all_ happy with me."

"The sooner, the better," Delaney said, glancing over at the on-duty nurse who was glaring daggers in their direction. She grabbed her bag from the couch and got up, heading for the exit. Sawyer followed suit.

"Did you get everything done that you needed to?" he asked as they began to head east. Delaney figured taking the waterway north of Oldale and then going south to Slateport was probably their best course of action.

"Yeah, the meeting went really well! The gym leader really has it together. I'm really impressed with these Hoenn gym leaders," she said. "Hopefully everyone else is as efficient as this. I think this is really going to be an easy task!" And if it was, then she could really impress the Elite Four, which would be a really good thing.

* * *

It was a quick hour jetting across the small waterway to the eastern part of route 103, which was a bright, happy little place. They walked along a path framed by berry trees and flowers as the young trainers around them battled with their pikachus (as well as the little red and blue Pikachu clones that Sarah had shown her) and wurmples and beautiflys. People waved to Delaney and Sawyer as they passed by, though nobody challenged them. The sun was beginning to set, reflecting a golden light onto the trail. "Isn't this place beautiful?" Delaney asked. Sawyer nodded lazily. Both hoped they would come across Slateport soon. Delaney imagined it to be even more lovely than Petalburg had been, as it was a coastal city.

It took awhile before Delaney noticed that their path was no longer framed by berry trees and flowers. Puddles of still water surrounded by bug pokemon were becoming more and more common and Delaney cringed as she stepped down and the ground was no longer hard. Her shoes were enveloped in a muddy mess. "What the hell?" she muttered.

The further south, they headed, the more still water and mud they encountered, until finally, in the midst of the puddles, they encountered a large building that upon further inspection, was the harbor where boats had sailed. There were no other buildings in sight, not even a Pokemon Center. "There's no gym here, or gym leader to take care of things," Sawyer said as he looked around, concerned.

"Steven said Mauville's gym leader was supposed to be taking care of things," Delaney said, looking around in wonder at what was once Slateport City. "It looks like the apocalypse happened."

"Or Jaws," Sawyer said, nodding. "Except like Super Jaws."

Delaney rolled her eyes, but said nothing. It was hard to believe what had clearly been a large city had been completely wiped out besides this one building. "Well, I guess Mauville is our next stop," she said, looking around one last time. "There's no point in staying here."

"Shouldn't you maybe call Steven?" Sawyer asked as Delaney pulled out the pokeball that contained Grace, her altaria. Sawyer followed suit and released his noctowl, Busby.

"I think I need to have a talk with a certain gym leader first," Delaney said, pursing her lips. She climbed on Grace's fluffy back and took off to the north. The ground underneath them was completely dark by the time both Delaney and Sawyer had taken off on their respective flyers. It was like nothing had ever existed there.

* * *

**Author's Note (8/07/12): **First off, thank you all SO much for being patient with me as I finished up my summer semester! It went fabulously and I got an A on the paper I've been working on for the last week (the paper that will also eventually be used for a research grant application, senior thesis and graduate school application writing sample)... Which landed me with a 4.0 for the summer. (:

Thanks also for being patient during this beginning stretch... It's about to pick up immensely in the next chapter or two, promise!

A super thanks to my wonderful beta and friend, **Noteleks**! And finally thanks to you all for reading this. I love to hear what you all have to say in your reviews, but just the fact that you're taking time out of your days to read this little story that I love writing is enough to make my day!

Chapter 4 will be up much faster than this was... I start school on the 20th, but in the meantime, I've got a lot else trying to be crammed in to these last few weeks of freedom (including work, which unfortunately, never ends). I've already started in and am hoping to have it done and edited in time for a Monday release, so keep an eye out.

Thanks as always you guys, and see you next week!

~DAT


	5. 04: Taking Control

_My name is Delaney Christa Caldwell. I guess I've never really thought it was weird, because when I was growing up, I knew kids named Astoria and Fenwick and Thackary, so compared to them, Delaney isn't really so strange. According to my father, Delaney was my mother's family name, so my first name is to honor her or something like that._

_Christa is the feminine form of Christopher, which is what my name would've been had I been a boy like they thought._

_Really, whenever it annoys me, I'm just grateful my name isn't Thackary._

* * *

**Chapter 04: Taking Control**

It was almost ten when Grace and Busby finally flew above the bright lights of Mauville City. While Delaney quickly noticed that much of the ground was muddy like Slateport's, even more distinct was a thick gray substance on every roof of every structure in town. It looked like frames to new homes were going up near the Pokemon Center, presumably to replace fallen residences. Mauville wasn't in nearly as bad shape as the city that had been to the south, but it looked decrepit compared to the cities of Rustboro and Petalburg.

A young nurse with magenta hair was closing down the lobby of the Pokemon Center when Delaney and Sawyer appeared at the locked doors. Luckily, she happened to glance up and notice exactly who was standing there pleadingly and she hurried to open the door. "Oh my goodness, Delaney Caldwell!" she squealed. "I can't believe I'm meeting Delaney Caldwell!"

"Hi," Delaney said awkwardly, turning the same shade of crimson she always did when people reacted this way to her. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but is there any possibility that you have a room available?"

"Of course!" the young nurse said. "Oh goodness, let me go grab you a key. I'm sure you're totally exhausted and want to get some sleep."

"Yep," Sawyer responded with a nod, but the magenta haired young lady couldn't really care less about what the auburn haired boy next to Delaney Caldwell had to say. She bustled back behind the counter and searched for a key. "I told you there was no way anybody would shut the door on Delaney Caldwell."

"I kind of wish she would've," Delaney said, wrinkling her nose. "This is just weird. I hate when people freak out."

"Well of course people are going to freak out. You're Delaney Caldwell," Sawyer pointed out.

"Will you stop calling me by my first and last name?" she hissed. "There's really nothing special about it."

"Well now you're an Elite Four member, so you're pretty much a legitimate celebrity," Sawyer pointed out. "It's just… exciting, you know?"

"You didn't freak out when you learned who I was," Delaney pointed out.

"Yes I did. It was crazy," Sawyer said, raising his eyebrows.

"No, you really didn't. You just scolded me for f-bombing in front of Alder," Delaney said.

Sawyer chuckled. "Oh yeah…"

The magenta haired nurse hurried back to them and put the key in Delaney's hand. "I knew we had a room left! It's not a double room, but it's all we have."

"That's fine. Thank you so much for your help!" Delaney said with a courteous smile. With room key in hand, she and Sawyer headed up the stairs to look for their room. They found it tucked away in a small corner. "This doesn't bode well," she muttered to Sawyer.

Delaney inserted the key in, but found that she was having trouble with it getting stuck in the lock. "Is it too late to get a hotel room?" Sawyer asked with a grimace.

"Well if we left now, we would really be jerks for bothering her," Delaney said. The door opened with a sudden jerk, causing Delaney to nearly fall inside the room.

The inside of the small room (emphasis on the small) wasn't much better. A small cot laid on an ancient springboard on one side of the room and a couch that very clearly outdated both Delaney and Sawyer was on the other wall with only a couple feet of space between them. Right next to the door was a bathroom with a small stand-up shower, a toilet and a sink- not even a mirror could be found in there. The two looked around nervously. "If I find a bug pokemon anywhere in this room, I'm jumping out the window," the brunette declared dramatically.

Sawyer rolled his eyes. "The sooner we get to bed, the sooner the morning will come and we can either leave or get a better room."

"Yeah, we'll definitely be leaving," Delaney said, wrinkling her nose in disdain.

"Definitely quite a change from the Evergrande rooms we've been staying in," Sawyer said, looking around for a spare blanket to use for the couch.

"I've heard the ones the real Elite Four get are even nicer," Delaney said thoughtfully. "Not that I'm complaining about those hotel rooms, because I most definitely am not."

"I will be _very _glad to get back to Evergrande," Sawyer said. "I bet Fluffy misses me."

Delaney grabbed a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of purple terry shorts from her bag to change into. As she dropped her bag onto the cot, it sunk down under the weight. Delaney sighed and headed off to the bathroom. "That shark probably does too," she teased.

Sawyer groaned. "Okay, seriously, when we get back to Evergrande, you've really got to see this thing. You won't be laughing then."

Getting into her pajamas in the remarkably small bathroom was no easy feat. Delaney was a fairly average sized nineteen year old girl and she still was finding it quite a challenge to get into the t-shirt and shorts. When it seemed she had finally succeeded, she smiled proudly and bent down to pick up her clothes from the day before... and promptly hit her head on the sink with a loud _clunk._

"That didn't sound good!" Sawyer called from in the main room. "Doesn't sound like you're laughing anymore, Del!"

Delaney scowled, even though Sawyer couldn't see her, and rubbed her head. She grabbed her clothes from the day and walked out of the bathroom. Sawyer was already in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and curled up on the couch in his wafer-thin blanket (found under the cot, naturally) with a smirk on his face. "Whatever. That shark is going to eat you," she muttered as she stomped over to her cot. She grabbed her bag and set it down beside the bed. She felt bad for not letting her pokemon out but there was hardly enough room for herself and Sawyer, much less their teams.

"You're going to make me get up and turn the light off, aren't you?" the auburn haired boy asked. Delaney's only reply was to smile sweetly and nod. Sawyer glowered at her and groaned loudly as he got up from his spot on his couch to flip the light switch off. Within seconds, the small room was pitch black. "Ow!" Sawyer cried, obviously having hit something on his way back to the couch.

"Sweet dreams, Sawyer darling! Don't let the sharkies bite!" the brunette teased, pulling up the scratchy cotton blanket around her head.

"So mean," Delaney could hear Sawyer mutter under his breath. For a few moments, she could hear him moving around and trying to get comfortable on the couch until finally, all was still, and sleep came soon after.

* * *

The gym was the newest looking building in all of Mauville. It towered over most of the other structures in Mauville, painted a plum color with a clearly new steel door. Once she and Sawyer stepped inside, the pleasant sun over Mauville was all but forgotten as they were plunged into darkness the moment the door shut. A few strategically placed violet lights mapped out a path on the floor. "What the…" Sawyer muttered.

"Is that a challenger?!" a young female voice called out excitedly.

"Of course not," Delaney said, feeling her patience already wearing thin. Why in the world was the gym in such good condition while the rest of the town was so shoddy? "None of the gym leaders are taking challengers at the moment." She could hear Sawyer chuckling behind her.

"…Right," the voice answered slowly. "Can I help you then?" Her tone had changed from excited to snarky in less than a minute.

"I'm sure hoping so. This is Delaney Caldwell and I'm here to talk to you about your city," she said.

"Oh right… Gramps said you'd be coming by. Come on back," the girl said.

"Yeah, can we get some lights?" Delaney called back. She definitely had no desire to go through this girl's little gym puzzle.

"Ugh, if you insist," the girl insisted haughtily and within moments, floodlights above filled the room with bright light. The only person in the room, sitting in an ornate purple chair that was almost throne-like, was a teenage girl whose black hair with burgundy streaks, thick eye make-up and facial piercings (a ring hung from her nose and a bright blue stud decorated her lip) didn't give her what Delaney would consider a professional appearance. The wad of gum in her mouth that she had already popped twice since Delaney had entered didn't help much either. She looked bored by the appearance of the brunette in the white shorts and light yellow v-neck t-shirt. Lanky Sawyer in his baggy green hoodie, white t-shirt and black shorts didn't particularly amuse her either.

It was clear she wasn't going to acknowledge them first, so Delaney made the first move (though it wasn't necessarily a wise one). "You're the gym leader?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" the girl challenged. Sawyer and Delaney exchanged a glance. This was most definitely going to be a bundle of fun.

"You just seem a little… young," Delaney said primly, catching herself before she said something along the lines of '_disrespectful, insolent and incompetent'._

"Whatevs, can we just get this over with?" the girl said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Sawyer said pointedly behind Delaney. The brunette stifled a laugh.

"Hudson. Who are you again?" she asked.

"This is Sawyer Hale, a friend of mine," Delaney said. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"You're going to anyways, so you might as well go ahead," Hudson pointed out.

Delaney sighed. It was really going to be a challenge to keep her cool, but as a member of the Elite Four, she knew she had to… Even though she knew if she had run into a girl like Hudson during her travels, she would've been more than tempted to punch her in the face. "What's been accomplished thus far in your city?"

"I redesigned the gym," she said proudly. "Doesn't it look cool? My gramps had it all tricked out with electric traps, but I got rid of them all."

"Your grandfather appointed you as gym leader then?" Delaney asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Figures," Sawyer muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, he ran this gym for years. Wattson. Maybe you've heard of him?"

"I'm afraid I haven't. I'm new to the Hoenn area," Delaney said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you've been really busy not battling Team Plasma," Hudson said snarkily.

"Watch it," Sawyer said angrily from behind Delaney, whose mouth had dropped in shock. She quickly recovered her cool and looked at Hudson icily.

"I'm sure he was at the very least pleasant," Delaney snapped before she could stop herself. "Have you done anything besides fix up this gym to your liking?"

"Hey hey hey," Hudson protested angrily. "I've totally done stuff. I replaced a bunch of broken windows and gotten roofs fixed that caved in. Some of the houses that were in really bad shape were just deconstructed and are being totally rebuilt."

"What's the gray stuff on all of the roofs?" Sawyer asked.

"I don't believe I need to answer any of your questions, friend-of-an-Elite-Four-member," Hudson said pointedly to Sawyer.

"What's the gray stuff on all the roofs?" Delaney repeated. "And you can be rude to me all you want, but watch what you say to my friend."

"Well, she really shouldn't be being such a little bitch to an Elite Four member either," Sawyer muttered, though he didn't make a point of making sure Hudson didn't hear.

"Whatever, this is stupid," Hudson said, clearly irritated. "This whole thing is stupid. Why doesn't Steven hire people to fix this and just let us leaders battle like gym leaders are supposed to? It's not like he's not totally loaded with cash."

"Because you're leaders of your city first and foremost," Delaney said, insulted by Hudson's attitude. "And not only your city, but the cities surrounding you that don't have a leader like you. Speaking of surrounding cities, Hudson, please tell me all about the work you've done in Slateport. Champion Steven has specifically asked about what is going on there."

Hudson pursed her lips together tightly. "I haven't gotten around to that yet."

"Too busy setting gym traps?" Delaney asked with a raise of her eyebrows. "Yeah, I can definitely understand how getting your gym puzzle ready for trainers that won't be here for months is more important than getting a city that has been utterly wiped out back on its feet. I know all the people who have lost their homes will understand as well."

"Well if it's so easy, why don't you do it, Miss High-And-Mighty Elite Four?" Hudson snapped, sitting straight up for the first time during the conversation. "Oh wait, I'm sure since you couldn't help Unova, you probably couldn't do much to help Slateport either."

Delaney stayed quiet in response to this, knowing that if she were to open her mouth (or really, move at all), she would lose her cool on this little brat. Knowing how livid Delaney was, Sawyer came up from behind her and put his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down, but it was completely ineffective.

"Skitty got your tongue?" Hudson asked mockingly. "Arceus, I can't understand why Steven would ask the girl who couldn't even beat Team Plasma to be on the Elite Four."

"I think you're forgetting that she did once beat Team Galactic and if she could kick their asses, she can kick yours easily, little girl," Sawyer said. Delaney snapped her head to the left to look at him.

"What are you doing?" she whispered to him. "You know I haven't battled in ages."

"Is that a challenge?" Hudson asked with a smirk. "Because if it is, I totally accept."

"Yeah it is!" Sawyer said.

"It is?" Delaney asked him, raising her eyebrows. "What are you trying to do here, Sawyer?"

"Let your anger guide you," Sawyer said with a charming smile.

Hudson released her nuzleaf, a stocky and muscular pokémon. Without hesitation, Delaney pulled out Alec. None of her pokémon had battled in a while, but Alec looked raring to go. The two pokémon were almost the exact same size and they squared each other up.

Hudson made the first move. "Nuzleaf, use bide!"

Delaney chuckled. "Really? Alec…Go ahead and use crunch," she commanded. "No sense pulling out the big guns," she muttered to herself. The nuzleaf locked its elbows in tightly and prepared to take the hit. Alec lurched forward and clamped its large jaws on the nuzleaf's torso. With a grimace, the nuzleaf endured the hit and summoned some rebounding energy but it was not an easy thing to do as the acorn pokémon staggered back, wobbling on his feet.

Hudson's eyes widened. "Just… Endure it, nuzleaf! You can do it!"

Delaney smirked. "Alec, you know what to do." And that he did- the scrafty, still close to the nuzleaf, spun back around and attacked with a lightning quick chop right down on the nuzleaf's head. The klunk echoed just a little bit in the hollow gym and the acorn pokémon fell with a thud.

The troubled-looking teenager was not smiling as she recalled nuzleaf. "We'll see how well your fighting pokemon does here… Go on, Sableye!" The small ghost pokemon's jewel eyes glinted with the purple lights of the gym. "Night Shade!"

Dark power gathered around the purple ghost, creating a mass of black and red gas. Alec shrunk back a little bit before the power gathered and struck him. Despite the awesome display, Alec did little more than stagger back and brush it off like it was nothing.

"That would be _dark _and fighting," Delaney said sweetly. "Alec, just use crunch again!" Bunching up like a steel spring, Alec leapt forward and bit down ferociously on the ghost. It squealed in pain and Alec let go and stepped back, circling the ghost. "Go for another one!"

"Protect yourself!" Hudson yelled at the already weary sableye.

Alec lurched forward again to bite, but the ghost was faster and shifted in a dark blur, avoiding the attack. Alec snarled and a look of utter annoyance came across his normally lazy features. Without Delaney saying anything, he went for another bite. He knew his trainer well enough to be able to predict what she was going to say by this point.

"Dodge again!" The sableye evaded again, jumping back. Alec would not let this happen and stayed right back the pokemon, moving right along with Sableye, and got the pokémon again. This time it dropped to the ground in compliance to the much stronger pokémon, defeated. Alec turned his back and walked away, smiling proudly at Delaney.

Hudson had no choice but to recall the sableye with a dark expression on her face. "Sharpedo, this one's all you!" she called, releasing a dark blue shark pokemon.

Sawyer's eyes grew wide behind Delaney and he let out a groan. "Seriously? Out of all the pokemon in the world?"

"Alec, use Brick Break!" Delaney called, finally opting to use some of Alec's more potent attacks (mainly just for Sawyer's benefit, so that he didn't have a mental breakdown before the end of the battle).

"Sharpedo, Scary Face to slow that thing down and then Ice Fang!"

The sharpedo's face crunched up and its eyes glowed red. Despite Alec's confidence, it slowed the scrafty down significantly- apparently Sawyer was not the only one who was a bit afraid of the sharpedo's razor sharp teeth. Luckily for Sharpedo, Alec was deterred to the point that the sharpedo had time to gather ice on his fangs- just as Alec lunged forward with a swift chop. As its paw smacked down on the sharpedo's head, the shark bit Alec back. Delaney winced, but Alec didn't seem too fazed by it. The sharpedo, however, was incredibly hurt; to the point that it couldn't seem to put a thought together.

Hudson seemed to debate letting the pokémon try one more time, but seeing Delaney sharing a glance with Alec and the shrug that said 'just hit it again' she recalled the pokémon and released her last, Mightyena.

"Alec, you deserve a break!" Delaney called. Alec looked back at Delaney with a facial expression that could best be described as disbelief. When he came back to her, Delaney muttered softly to him, "Well we'd be jerks if I just let you wail on her pokemon solo." Alec seemed to understand and he let Delaney recall him.

In his place, she released a smiling green pokemon who let out a small burst of energy, sheerly just thrilled to be released, since they hadn't been let out the night before. "Delaney, is this a battle?!" she asked excitedly.

"Sure is, Synapse!" she said with a smile.

"Did you seriously just let out a psychic pokemon?" Hudson asked in disbelief. "Wow… Well, Mightyena and I will show you how it's done!" The wolf pokémon put its ears back and snarled loudly at the floating psychic pokémon.

"Oh, look a puppy!" Synapse said sarcastically. "Am I supposed to take this thing seriously?"

Delaney had to laugh. "Focus Blast… Let's end this," she commanded. Synapse gathered a ball of light blue energy in between her hands, the orb growing all the time.

"Mightyena… Use Snarl!" Hudson tried.

Faster than Synapse could release the ball of energy, the mightyena started snarling viciously like it was ranting about something. Synapse paused, seeming confused by the pokemon's attempt before releasing the ball of energy. It hit the mightyena with a bright blast and the pokémon fainted immediately.

"Ooooh, what now?!" Sawyer whooped from behind Delaney. "You just got _served_, little girl!"

Hudson stood looking at the battleground in awe at her fallen mightyena. She turned to Delaney. "Well, I guess you aren't bad." She was positively crimson, clearly embarrassed at having lost in such spectacular fashion. Normally Delaney would've felt bad for thrashing someone like she just had, especially someone younger than her, but that girl _really _had it coming.

"I admire your originality. Almost every region has a dark-type Elite Four, but you're the first gym leader. You might want to focus on your rebuilding if you want to keep it that way," she said stiffly. She wasn't about to forget the hurtful comments involving Team Plasma

"Is that a threat?" Hudson asked, her blue eyes narrowing.

"Steven will be examining all new gym leaders once the rebuilding is mostly complete," Delaney said, her violet eyes emotionless. "I guarantee he won't look kindly upon the fact that you've neglected your duties as a leader of Mauville in his decision on whether or not to keep you around."

"So you're threatening me then," she said incredulously.

"Consider it a warning, not a threat," the brunette said. "Now here's where you make a decision. After I leave here, I need to call Steven and report what I've found. Do I tell him that you've neglected rebuilding in favor of preparing your gym, or do I tell him that while you've made progress, the rebuilding is going slowly but you will continue to make progress and check in with me? Because I guarantee that if you don't dedicate yourself to helping the citizens of Mauville and Slateport, you will never once battle as a gym leader of Mauville."

The glimmer of anger in Hudson's eyes faded and instead, tears filled them. The younger girl looked absolutely crestfallen. "It's not easy doing all this without any help, you know," she mumbled. "My gramps, I thought I'd have him to back me up, but he got really sick after the storms… He almost died. He's alright now, but he's still not what he used to be."

"You should've asked for help from the get-go," Delaney retorted. "Steven has been helping some of the other cities that have been hit hard. He could've helped you too."

"Faradays don't ask for help," she sniffed.

"I would get over that attitude really fast if I were you," Delaney said, pursing her lips. "Now what's your decision?"

Hudson was silent for a moment. "I guess I'll get started tomorrow. I'll talk to the construction crews that have been helping me here in Mauville. Please don't take my gym away."

"I would've really appreciated manners from the beginning," Delaney said icily. "Do you have Steven's number or would you like me to give it to you? I want you to call him and ask him for help in figuring out what your next step is."

"I have it," she muttered. "Won't he know that I haven't really done much then? Won't I get in trouble?"

Delaney paused, thinking this over. On one hand, she could get the little snot back for her hurtful remarks and tell Steven exactly what had happened during this visit… Or as the older and wiser of the two, she could take the high road and tell him that while progress had been made, Hudson needed help to make further progress and let him know that he should be expecting a call from the smart-mouthed teenage gym leader of Mauville. The brunette sighed. "I will tell him to be expecting your call, as you've made progress but you've hit a wall and need his help. Luckily for you, Steven is extremely nice and will probably agree to help you without question… But for your sake, I hope to Arceus that you are a lot more respectful to him than you were to me."

Hudson turned an even further shade of crimson. "Well, I guess you aren't bad," she said, repeating her words from earlier.

"I'm leaving now before I can't stop myself from talking," Delaney said, turning on her heel. "I'm calling Steven right away, so you better figure out what to say to him pretty quickly. If I call him tomorrow and he hasn't heard from you, I will be going into great detail regarding what the little progress that's been made. I also may or may not throw in my opinions of whether or not you're fit to take on a leadership role in Mauville." With that, the brunette sashayed out of the gym, with a wide-eyed and incredulous Sawyer following right behind her.

The meeting had taken longer than Delaney had expected (more than likely because of the battle) and now dusk was falling. Seeing as how Delaney didn't even know where to go next, it was likely that they were going to have to stay another night in Mauville's Pokemon Center and leave early in the morning. Luckily, Sawyer had thought to turn in their room key before leaving for the meeting with Hudson in hopes that even if they were stuck there for another night, they would be able to get something a little bigger than a closet with a cot. They didn't say anything as they walked the short distance to the Pokemon Center. The same magenta-haired nurse from earlier was on duty and her smile brightened considerably upon seeing Delaney walk back in. Fortunately for Delaney, she was assisting another trainer, so the brunette had a few more moments of peace.

"So about what happened back there…" Sawyer began. Delaney sighed, knowing that the conversation was inevitable. "Are you allowed to threaten them with their gym like that?"

Delaney chuckled. "Probably not, but hey, if it motivates them, I don't think Steven would be too opposed. He'd probably say the same thing… But a lot nicer. Steven is a lot nicer than I am."

"Well you were a lot nicer than you should have been," Sawyer said. "I can't believe the nerve of that little-"

"Delaney Caldwell!" the magenta-haired nurse squealed. Everybody in the vicinity of the counter turned to watch the encounter. Apparently when she had been just talking to Sawyer, she had blended into the crowd of trainers that were just standing around talking to friends, but now that she stood there, it was more or less incredible that Delaney was in Mauville. "I'm so glad you decided to stay another night!"

Delaney was not so glad she had been forced by necessity to stay another night. "Hi," she said, her awkward manner from the night before returning. "Is there any possibility that I could get a room and have my pokemon healed?"

"Yeah, totally!" the nurse said excitedly. "I'll take your pokemon and then get to work on finding you a totally great room! We have a lot more empty than we did last night."

"Thank Arceus," Sawyer murmured.

"Thanks so much," Delaney said with a courteous smile, handing over only the pokeballs of Alec and Synapse, seeing as how they were the only ones that had battled. The others hadn't been in a battle in quite a long time.

"No, thank _you,_" the nurse said with a wide grin. "I'm going to go heal these guys up and get you a key. If you have any other questions or feel like giving me your autograph, my name is Lexie."

"Right on… Lexie," Delaney said with an awkward little grimace as the magenta-haired girl disappeared. "I don't even think I have a pen," she told Sawyer as they stood at the counter.

"I'm sure she has at least twelve that are all ready to sign her… Arceus, I don't even know what she could possibly want signed," Sawyer said, shaking his head.

"When I was little, Cynthia signed my purse," Delaney said thoughtfully. "Probably something like that, but ew, I don't know what anybody would want my signature for."

Everyone at the counter had lost interest in the brunette waiting for a room key with the exception of one young man. A few years older than Delaney, he had curious gray eyes that looked her over from head to toe. He wasn't a stalker or weirdo by any means. He appeared every bit the average trainer with his perfectly styled short brown hair, indigo polo shirt, white shorts and spotless white tennis shoes. Delaney and Sawyer continued to chatter, waiting for Lexie the nurse to return with a room key.

"She certainly does take awhile," Delaney remarked, trying to look back into the rooms beyond the counter. "She took quite awhile last night too."

"She's probably telling everyone here that Delaney Caldwell is out in the lobby. She may even be taking pictures of Alec and Synapse as evidence," Sawyer said with a chuckle.

"Delaney Caldwell?" a young male voice asked. Delaney looked to see who was talking to her, only to see the young man in his indigo polo.

"Yes?" While Delaney had to admit that he was rather attractive, she was confused as to why he would want to talk to her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation with your friend here," he said with a pleasant grin towards Sawyer, who was eyeing him suspiciously. "My name is Nick Grimm." He extended his hand for her to shake, which she did, albeit hesitantly.

"Nice to meet you, Nick," Delaney said with a smile, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

"Pardon me for being a bit rude, and maybe a bit forward, but I've been following your stories in the news for years and it really is so incredible to meet you. You're even more lovely in person than on television," he said, his gray eyes connecting with her violet ones. "I'd like to extend you an invitation."

"She's not interested," Sawyer answered before Delaney could even answer.

"Not that kind of invitation," he laughed. Sawyer scowled at him. "Delaney, I'm part of a group called The Nascence. It would be an honor to have you as a guest at our next meeting. You're exactly what we need."

* * *

**Author's Note (8/12/12):** Um, yeah, so about that Monday posting thing... I lied. Chapter 4 has been done for almost a week and I got too excited, so I posted it early... So happy end of the weekend!

I have already started on chapter 5 and I anticipate having it ready to go for next Monday... If I'm a bit slow on replies to messages or reviews or whatnot, I am _really_ sorry- I know I'm a bit behind still, but I'm going to try to finish them up tonight. I have been crazy busy and will be crazy busy next week as well- you know, saying goodbye to summer before I'm stuck back in classrooms and writing papers and whatnot (though actually, I love writing research papers, so I'm not really complaining).

Thanks as always to my wonderful, wonderful beta, **Noteleks**, who was a huge help writing the battle scene in this chapter (seeing as how, you know, I kind of suck at them).

And thanks as well to all of you wonderful readers and/or reviewers. (: I really appreciate all of the feedback I get (and thanks for all the congrats regarding my last author's note!). I am ridiculously lucky to have you all, and I really love being able to read what you all are thinking.

See you next week, lovely readers!

~DAT


	6. 05: First Breath After Coma

_I met Dax Briley in my first week of journeying through Sinnoh and I absolutely loathed him. He just got on my nerves. He was so cocky that I felt the need to one-up him whenever I could. We were constantly competing over something, whether it was who could get to the next town first (usually him), who could get a badge first, whose pokemon were stronger or who could bust Team Galactic first. Despite my instant dislike, Dax ended up being my best friend. A lot of people think we're related because when my hair isn't dyed, we look really similar… And we tend to fight like siblings, but that comes naturally to a pair of people who know each other as well as Dax and I do. It's probably a good thing we're not related- I would seriously pity any parent that got stuck with us._

_I didn't really meet Sawyer Hale- he met me. He offered me help when I was lost in Unova and I took it and we clicked- possibly because he often reminds me of Dax, minus the liking boys part. Sawyer is the most loyal person I've ever encountered. When we separated in Unova, he found me to let me know that Team Galactic had been spotted because he knew how I felt about them. When I left for Johto by myself, he found me and he hasn't left me since. He's dealt with so much crap because of me… I don't understand why he hasn't left yet._

* * *

**Chapter 05: First Breath After Coma**

"The… Nascence?" Delaney asked, sounding it out.

"Sounds like a cult," Sawyer scoffed.

"Sawyer!" Delaney said, her eyes widening. She turned to Nick. "Can you please explain a little bit about your… group?" Really, it did kind of sound like a cult, but Delaney didn't want to admit that.

"Of course," he said with a smile. "The Nascence is a group dedicated to helping those stuck in Unova and Sinnoh under the rule of Team Plasma and Team Galactic. We send care packages and supplies and our overarching goal is to go into Unova and go to the Plasma Castle outside of the Pokemon League, where their leaders are located, and try to take them down."

"That's ridiculous," Sawyer interrupted. "If Delaney couldn't take them down, what makes you think you can?" Delaney shot a look at Sawyer, hurt apparent in her violet eyes. "Okay, that didn't come out like I wanted it to."

Nick chuckled. "It's alright. Well, all of our members are people who were affected by the tragedy, including one former Team Plasma member who has blueprints of the castle. We're not making any rash decisions, of course, but we're slowly but surely drawing up plans."

When it came down to it, Delaney really didn't have to think about a response. She had left Unova and Sinnoh in the clutches of Ghetsis and Cyrus- how could she_not_help in any way she possibly could? "I'd love to go to your meeting," she said. Sawyer looked at her in wide-eyed surprise.

"That's great!" Nick said with a bright smile. "We have a meeting in the morning. Would you be free to attend that one, or would you rather just wait for the next? I understand if it's a bit too last minute for you- I'm sure you're ridiculously busy."

"I'll be there tomorrow," Delaney said before she could even give herself a chance to think it over. "Where do I go?"

"If you go east out of Mauville, you'll come to route 118, where there's a beach and a small waterway. If you cross that, you'll come up to another beach. One of our members will be waiting for you there. They'll take you back to headquarters."

"Okay!" Delaney said. "Sounds good. What time should I expect to meet them there?"

"Sometime between 9 and 9:15. The meeting is at 9:30," he said. "I'm going to get going- I've encroached on your time with your friend enough. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow." He extended his hand again and Delaney shook it. The handshake lingered, and Nick looked directly into her eyes, holding the gaze. "It was really lovely to meet you, Delaney," he said finally. And with that, he was gone.

"Here you go!" Lexie chirped as she finally came back with Alec, Synapse and a room key. A dazed Delaney didn't respond, and so Sawyer grabbed them with a huff and an eyeroll.

"Earth to Del," he snapped, waving his hand in front of her face.

Delaney blinked. "Oh… Sorry, Sawyer. I guess we should head up to our room?"

"Ya think?" he asked sarcastically, pushing through the throng of trainers. He turned back and handed Delaney the pokèballs of Alec and Synapse. "Here you go. Since you were busy spacing out when she gave them back."

Delaney was shocked, having never seen Sawyer angry in all the time that they had been friends. "Sawyer, what is your problem?"

The usually jovial auburn-haired boy didn't respond until after they were already upstairs and he was unlocking the room. "Do you really buy all that Nascence crap?"

"Crap?" Delaney said with a frown. The door to the room opened and left Delaney relieved to see two nice-sized beds, a couch, a chair and even a television.

"Something about that guy didn't just seem _off _to you?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. "This perfectly dressed guy constantly complimenting you, the convenience of having a meeting tomorrow, wanting someone to meet you on the beach instead of giving you directions to the headquarters? That doesn't seem suspicious at all?"

Delaney was quiet. "I'm not telling you what to do," Sawyer said. "All I'm saying is there was more than just a little wrong with his spiel."

"They're helping against Plasma and Galactic," Delaney finally said after a long pause, after Sawyer had already ventured into the bathroom to get into his sleep clothes. Delaney still stood in the entranceway of the room. "They want to help Unova and Sinnoh. That can't be a bad thing, Sawyer."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing," he called out from inside the bathroom.

"Out of everyone, don't you really think I should be doing something to help?" she said with a frown.

"You're helping Hoenn right now, Del. You can't save everyone at once," he said, stepping out of the bathroom in his sweatpants and t-shirt.

Delaney didn't respond to that as he went over to the bed and laid down and Delaney stepped into the bathroom herself. She took her dear sweet time in putting on a pair of cotton shorts and a baggy t-shirt and putting her things from the day back into the bag.

When she came back out, Flapjack had been released and was lying on the bed with Sawyer. Both sets of eyes were closed. Delaney sighed and tossed her bag onto the chair, save for one thing- her Crosstransceiver. She still had to call Steven and report the events of her day.

It rang once, twice, three times… Four times. Steven didn't pick up. Delaney sighed and put it on her bedside table and shut off the light.

* * *

Delaney couldn't really remember the last time she had woken up ridiculously early to do her hair and make-up. Looking nice had hardly been a priority in Unova, where she had mainly just opted to throw her hair into a messy ponytail and call it good. So far, in Hoenn, sleep had been a far greater luxury than looking nice, and so the small bag of make-up at the bottom of the bag had hardly been touched in years. Really, it was quite possible that the last time it had been used was…

No, it wasn't then. She had put on a bit of eye make-up for the first Elite Four meeting- just a bit. If she was going to this meeting though, it wasn't going to be with the dark circles under her eyes that just seemed to be magnified more and more each day or the awkward facial scars that she still hated to look at three years later. She didn't want to be _that _Delaney Caldwell (even though she always would be). She wanted to be pretty Elite Four Delaney Caldwell, because really, it was a vast improvement over being the girl that couldn't beat Cyrus and his band of merry men.

Sawyer was sound asleep when she went into the bathroom with the bag of make-up, her clothes for the day and the hair straightener that often went completely unused because Delaney didn't care to take the time to wait for it to heat up and then use it. It was seven in the morning and as Delaney began to put on concealer over her dark circles and her scars, she began to notice that her hand was shaking and she couldn't explain why.

Or maybe she could. Maybe she was actually nervous for this meeting. Sawyer's words from the night before stuck out in her mind like a sore thumb, but something was telling her that there was something legitimate about this Nascence thing. Like she had told him, helping Unova and Sinnoh was not a bad thing and if these Nascence people were really helping, then they couldn't be bad people.

As Delaney finished putting on a layer of mascara, she stared at the mirror in wonder. The girl looking back at her looked more like the girl who lived out on route 212 than the girl who failed to stop Team Plasma. Delaney couldn't help but think this wasn't a bad thing.

* * *

The waterway on route 118 that Nick had told Delaney about was completely empty of people, waves lapping the barren shore. Nervously, Delaney got on Perry so that he could swim her across. As the samurott gracefully paddled through the water, trying not to submerge himself so that he wouldn't get Delaney _too _wet, his trainer eyed the shore, waiting for the outline of whoever was sent her to appear. When she saw nobody, Sawyer's words ran through her head once again. Biting her lower lip, she reached into her bag and grabbed Annie's pokeball- just in case, of course.

It was mere minutes before Perry happily let her off on the other side of route 118 and Delaney cautiously took a step onto yet another unmarred shoreline. Though this would usually be the point where Delaney would recall Perry, she decided to keep him out until somebody showed up- again, just in case.

She stood close to Perry, keeping her eye on the horizon. When a splashing sound came from next to Perry, Delaney jumped. She hadn't counted on anybody coming from the same direction as she had (though with how populous Mauville was, it shouldn't have been a surprise). A gyarados that was a bit larger than Fluffy, Sawyer's gyarados, pulled up at the shoreline and bowed down to let off a familiar-looking girl with long emerald green hair and excited blue eyes. "Oh my goodness, hi Delaney!" she chirped. The moment she spoke, Delaney knew exactly who she was- the daughter of the police chief from Rustboro, Jody, who worked in Norman's gym.

"You're part of The Nascence?" Delaney asked, not bothering to hide her surprise.

"Yeah, totally!" Jody said. "Why not do what you can to help, ya know? Since Norm is training Brendan, I have a lot more time on my hands so I thought I'd do my part and try and help! I met Nick when I was delivering stuff to a food bank in Lilycove and he told me about The Nascence and I thought it was a great idea!"

"So you don't even know anyone in Sinnoh or Unova?" Delaney asked incredulously.

"Nope!" she said, shaking her head. "I mean, I guess I've met people, and I kind of know you and you're from Sinnoh… But really, I just wanted to help however I could!"

"Wow," Delaney said, impressed. She had never really met anyone who helped people just because they wanted to.

"We should probably get going to headquarters," Jody said as she recalled her gyarados. Delaney followed suit and called back Perry as well, seeing as how Jody was obviously not a threat. "Malonie will freak if we're late."

"Malonie?" Delaney asked. It was the first time the name had been mentioned in conjunction with The Nascence.

"Yeah, she's the boss- well, along with Nick. They're brother and sister but they're like, super different," Jody explained. "I guess you'll see for yourself? But yeah, let's _not _be late, okay?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble," Delaney responded quickly, following Jody as they left the beach and headed towards a heavily wooded area with high grass.

Jody led the way through the high grass that scratched Delaney's legs as they walked. She finally stopped in front of a large tree with foliage draping down the trunk. Delaney was surprised to see her grab a small notch and pull open what was really a cleverly disguised door. When Delaney had been asked to come to headquarters, she had imagined a cold, unfeeling stone structure that was not completely unlike Galactic's Veilstone residence- but then again, Team Galactic was what she associated a lot of things with.

Jody looked back at Delaney with a large grin on her face. "Cool, right? Come on!"

Delaney followed Jody through a small hallway lined with a powder blue runner until they reached a large open room adorned with several tables, all of which were full. At the head of one table was Nick in a nice orange polo shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers. At the other end of the table was a slender young woman with burgundy hair and catlike green eyes that were narrowed at whoever she was talking to. She wore a simple black tank top with black cargo pants and black boots that were splattered with mud. For being siblings, the two really couldn't look more different.

"We're not late, are we?" Jody asked nervously, glancing from Nick to Malonie.

"Not at all, Jody!" Nick called out cheerfully, rising from his seat. Jody scooted off to a seat next to a kind-looking young woman with a dark braid pushed off to one side. Delaney was not left to stand alone for long though- Nick quickly took her side and guided her towards the burgundy-haired young woman.

"Delaney, please meet my sister, Malonie. Mal, this is Delaney Caldwell," he said. Despite the fact that he had led Delaney to her destination, his hand remained on her forearm.

"I'm pretty sure I know who she is," Malonie said, raising an eyebrow. She acknowledged Delaney not at all. "Pretty sure there's not a person here that doesn't."

Delaney swallowed hard. It was pretty clear that Malonie didn't want her there. "Nice to meet you," she tried, extended her hand.

Malonie ignored it. "I think we should start early," she said to Nate. "We have a lot to go over and I have a lot to do today after the meeting."

"Yeah, no prob," Nick said. "Why don't we go sit down? I saved you a seat next to me," he said with a smile towards Delaney, guiding her back to the table where he had been sitting when she had first entered the room. "Sorry, she's kind of intense," he whispered to her.

"I definitely wouldn't have known you two were related if you hadn't told me," Delaney said, raising an eyebrow.

Malonie cleared her throat loudly. "Let's get started," she said loudly. "We have a lot to get through. Let's start with updates. Who wants to start and tell us what you've been up to." It was more of a command for someone to start talking than a question.

Unsurprisingly, Jody was the first to raise her hand. "So I had to go to talk to Mr. Stone about building some dams for Petalburg this week, and while I was there, I talked to him about donating food to send over to Sinnoh, and he said yes!"

Congratulations floated around the room from various people, but Malonie sat perfectly still. "How much?"

"Three boxes of nonperishable goods, with more to come next month," Jody said with a large grin.

"Very nice!" Nick said. "I'm sure they'll appreciate it. Have you picked out a specific place to send them through and talked to anyone to make sure they get into the right hands?"

"Norm is friends with the gym leader of Canalave… Brian, I think?" she asked, looking around for clarification.

"Byron," Delaney said automatically.

"Thanks Delaney!" she said, bursting out into a huge grin. "Byron, that's the guy. Anyways, I guess that some of the people who used to live in Canalave moved out to this abandoned mine that he owns to try and escape the Galactic presence there and they're running out of food… So it's going to them. Is that okay?"

"I think it sounds great," Nick said, shooting a glance at Malonie. "We definitely wouldn't want anyone to starve."

"What about any refugees coming in?" Malonie asked. "Who's helping them?"

"I am," a deep voice answered. The source of it was a tanned, muscular young man at the end of Delaney's table who might've been handsome like a movie star if it wasn't for the long, deep scar that ran across his right eye, disfiguring a part of his face. "Most of the people coming in are from Pastoria, Canalave, Driftveil and Castelia- all of the places with harbors and ships. According to what I've heard from the people coming in, contact between the cities is severely limited, so they're not getting a lot of people from elsewhere trying to escape."

"How many people have you had in this week?" Malonie asked.

"Two families and four individuals," he said, maintaining sharp eye contact with Malonie.

"What did you do with them?" Nick asked.

"Atticus set up both of the families in apartments near the contest hall and the individual trainers are all set up with rooms in the Pokemon Center for as long as they need them," he said.

"Good job, Cam," Nick said with a nod. "Ren, how are those blueprints going?"

Delaney wasn't sure who Ren was until the thin woman with short strawberry blonde hair next to Malonie spoke. "Percy and I are making good progress. I still have a contact within the castle who's been updating me as I make changes. I'll let you know when I have more to tell."

"Okay then," Nick said, taking in a sharp breath. "Anybody else have something remarkable to report back?" There was a pause and Delaney looked around the room. There was somewhere near ten people there, and all of them were focused on the two leaders, glances going back and forth between Nick and Malonie.

"I'm taking that as a no. If there's anything else, you can report it at the next meeting," Malonie interjected. "This is what needs to happen before the meeting next week. Jody, the food donations are great, but if you or anybody else can get monetary donations that we could be sending out to either Sinnoh or Unova, that'd be great," she said. "Though really, any donations are good. Just make sure that you've talked to someone on the receiving end so that you know where it's going- we'd certainly hate for anything to wind up in the hands of Galactic."

"Speaking of donations, medical supplies," Nick cut in. "I meant to bring that up at the last meeting, but with that debate on how to deal with refugees coming from Sinnoh or Unova, we ran out of time. Medical supplies are rarely donated and often they're really needed, so if you guys could check with the Pokemon Centers around you, that'd be great." He glanced over at Malonie, whose lips were pursed. "My apologies for interrupting. Please continue."

The burgundy-haired young woman shot a sweeping glance over the room. "So we've got that covered- donations are welcome, especially monetary donations and medical supplies. If you don't have any connections in either region established and you're not sure where to send your donations, just let either Nick or I know and we will set you up."

She stood up and began to pace the room. "Next up- refugees. We had a pretty lengthy debate on them last week because nobody was really sure who we should be referring them to. Is it safe to say many of them are coming in through Lilycove?" she asked, her catlike eyes on the guy with the facial scar. He nodded. "If that's the case, when you all are in Lilycove, make sure to establish yourselves as volunteers helping out with the gym leader, Atticus. If you happen to be elsewhere and you come across someone coming from Unova or Sinnoh, get them set up with the nearest gym leader. If they're trainers, you can take them to the Pokemon Center."

Delaney began to space out as she watched Malonie pace around the floor, directing the small group. The Malonie pacing around was certainly different from the girl who had given her little more than an angry look- she seemed almost vibrant, radiating with charisma. She gave orders with ease and didn't hesitate at all when it came to her directives.

"Delaney?" she heard Nick say next to her. She snapped back to attention, only to find the eyes of the entire group on her. She immediately began turning red. They all knew she had spaced out. Malonie and the girl with the strawberry blonde hair (what was her name? Delaney couldn't remember for the life of her) glared at her. "Would you like to say something to everyone?" Nick asked, an encouraging smile on his face.

Well, at least he wasn't mad at her… But after spacing out, she definitely couldn't really get out of speaking, despite not having a clue what she could say. "Yeah, sure," she said nervously. She looked out at the group and gave them a wave. "Hi, I'm Delaney," she said.

"Yes, we know," the blonde girl next to Malonie's seat droned.

Delaney bit her lip. "I'm afraid I don't have anything prepared," she said, glancing around at the small group. "But I would really like to say that you guys are really amazing. I spent my childhood in Sinnoh and I've spent time in Unova and I think it's just incredible what you guys are doing for them. It really touches my heart."

"What is the Elite Four going to do for them?" the blonde challenged. "Has Steven Stone thought of that while he patches up Contest Halls and art museums?"

Delaney's mouth opened, but no sound came out. An older gentleman with white hair and kind blue eyes who sat at the other end of the table from Malonie placed his hand on the table quietly, but firmly. "Katherine, I don't think that's appropriate for right now."

"What?" she asked with a scowl. "I think it's more than appropriate. Hoenn has gotten by with some help. Doesn't it seem trite to you all that they're replacing broken windows and old paint jobs while everyone in Sinnoh and Unova are just suffering?"

"Let the poor girl talk," the older man said with a pointed look. The blonde girl, Katherine, crossed her arms and sat back in her chair, a scowl still present on her face, but she didn't speak again.

Attention was now back to Delaney, who was almost completely red and biting her lip. "Keep up the great work," she said before dropping her eyes to the table.

"We really appreciate you coming, Delaney," Nick said with a warm smile, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I know you're busy."

Delaney muttered a "no problem" that was unheard by all except Nick. She continued to stare at her hands in mortification as Nick and Malonie officially ended the meeting. As soon as the others began moving around, engaging in conversation with one another, Malonie gave Nick a curt wave and headed out the door.

"I'm so sorry," Nick said softly. "Ren can be a bit much… Well, everyone kind of can, I guess. I didn't know she would go after you like that. Do you hate me for asking you to come now?"

"No," Delaney said, shaking her head. "I'm glad to know someone is really trying to help everyone back in Unova and Sinnoh." The image of a small orange and black pig darting through the legs of a tall, thin blonde girl in orange as she tried to walk down the street crossed her mind, but she quickly pushed it away. Flashing back to the days of Unova (and especially the days of Sinnoh) never did her good. "I'm really glad I came."

"I'm really glad you came, too," Nick said, his gray eyes meeting her violet ones. "Do you want to go sit outside for a little bit? Get some fresh air?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Delaney said. As Nick led her out the door, she made sure not to lock eyes with any of the members of The Nascence. He led her through the tall grass again, stepping carefully as not to mar his sneakers. They didn't speak at all until they were on the beach off of Route 118. Nick took a seat in the warm sand, and Delaney followed suit.

"It must be hard for you to hear people talk about Galactic and Plasma," he said, his eyes glued to her face. Delaney avoided his gaze and concentrated on the sand that she was running through her fingers. She didn't give him an answer besides a quick nod. She didn't really trust herself to speak at the moment.

"It's hard to believe it's been three years since they came into power… I kind of thought somebody would've stepped in by now, but unfortunately, they're still going strong," he said.

Delaney finally looked up and met his eyes. "I tried, okay?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "I failed. I'm sorry."

Nick held up his hands. "No no no… I don't blame you in the slightest. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"It's true, though," Delaney said, her attention turning back to the golden sand running between her fingers.

"Delaney," he said softly. "Look at me." She still avoided his gaze, clutching a fistful of sand. "Delaney," he said again. Delaney dropped the sand into a small heap and glanced up at him. "Stop beating yourself up about the past. It's over. Just focus on the now. You're doing good things for Hoenn."

"What does that really matter?" she muttered under her breath.

"Hey, don't let Ren get to you," he said. "It's important to get Hoenn back up and running. We've dealt with a lot here too. Sure, we're not still suffering like Unova and Sinnoh are, but that doesn't change the fact that people have lost their homes and their businesses and their families… You're still helping people that need it. That counts for something."

"I guess," she said, directing her gaze out to the small waterway.

"One step at a time, Delly," he said. She whipped her head back to look at him, her eyes wide. Nobody had called her Delly since…

It didn't matter.

"Sorry, I guess I should probably ask permission before I start bestowing nicknames," Nick said with a chuckle.

"No it's not that," Delaney said. "It's… hard to explain. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to explain anything to me," Nick said. "You didn't have _too _horrible of a time, though?"

"No," she answered quickly (though it certainly had been no picnic). "Like I said, I'm glad I came."

"What do you think about maybe joining The Nascence?" he asked.

Delaney shook her head before really thinking. "I don't think so. I really do think you're all amazing… But my job is as an Elite Four member, and I'm not sure what they would think."

"I understand," Nick said, though he was clearly a bit disappointed. "Your job is your job and the last thing I want is to get you into trouble. Just know the offer is open."

"Um, yeah, totally," Delaney said, feeling a blush come back to her cheeks.

"Because, you know, I would like to see you again, so I'm kind of hoping you'll change your mind," he said with a small grin on his face. "Hey, let me see your Crosstransceiver."

Delaney quickly grabbed the small pink communication device out of her bag and handed it to Nick. He began entering numbers and within a couple moments, handed it back to her. "I put my number in there… Just in case you do change your mind."

"I'll call you even if I don't," Delaney found herself saying before she could really stop herself.

Nick grinned at her. "That's the kind of thing I like to hear," he said. "I should probably let you go and get back to your Elite Four duties. I hope you call," he said, getting up from the sand and wiping off his backside. Delaney followed suit, brushing the sand off of her black shorts with a vengeance. "I didn't ask for your number, so the next move is all yours."

"Thanks for inviting me today, Nick," she said, reaching in her bag to put away her Crosstransceiver and grab Perry's pokéball.

"Thanks for coming. It was worth inviting you just to get to see you," he said, shooting her a grin. "Until next time." And with that, he picked up the hand that wasn't holding Perry's pokéball and raised it to his lips. Delaney again flushed as Nick dropped her hand and began to walk back to the direction of headquarters.

Delaney took in a deep breath as she released the large blue sea lion that was her oldest companion. "Would you mind helping me back across?" she asked him.

Perry let out a large huff as he jumped into the water. He submerged himself completely before surfacing and coming close enough to the shore that Delaney could get on his back. When she did so, he began to make the familiar journey across the waterway.

Delaney sighed. Her head was more than slightly jumbled, between her meeting with Hudson and subsequent fight with Sawyer, the meeting and then what had just happened with Nick. She stared into the clear, rippling water as Perry charged through it, eager to get to the shore on the other side of Route 118. The water held no answers, though. She was just going to have to figure things out herself.

* * *

"Hey, Delaney!" a feminine voice called as Delaney was about to enter the Pokemon Center. Delaney whirled around to see Hudson running towards her, her dark hair bobbing on her shoulders. Delaney had to admit that she was more than slightly surprised. Within a minute or so, she caught up, panting a bit. "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I called Steven, so don't tell him to take my gym away, okay?"

Delaney sighed. "I haven't talked to Steven yet. Look, Hudson, I'm sorry about that. I was way out of line. I totally don't have that authority… I was just irritated."

"But you were right," Hudson said. "I shouldn't have been getting ready to battle because I mean, it's going to be a long time before I'm ready to battle. I was also kind of a bitch to you, so I'm sorry."

Delaney briefly wondered if she had been told to say this by someone, but she dismissed the thoughts- it didn't really matter anyways. "It's okay… You're stressed, I get it. This job… Isn't really as easy as I thought it'd be, but I'm sure it's ten times worse for you, especially considering how bad Slateport is. What did Steven say about Slateport?"

"He said that he would contact my grandpa about the best vendors to use and stuff like that… I didn't really understand it, to be honest, but it sounded like stuff is going to get done," Hudson said.

"Have you been to Slateport yet?" Delaney asked.

"No, my mom said it's not safe to go down there," she said. "Not like I need her permission or whatever but I guess… I haven't really wanted to. How bad is it?"

"It's destroyed completely," Delaney said softly with a frown. "It's like the world ended down there."

"It's going to take a lot of work," Hudson said, grimacing. "I don't know if I can do it."

"Well, Steven is going to help…" Delaney said. "And maybe I can help once I'm done doing this whole progress-checking thing. Hoenn can't be that big, right?"

"No, there aren't that many cities. Where have you been?" Hudson asked, suddenly curious.

"Um, well just to Rustboro and Petalburg so far, and we passed through Oldale… And what's left of Slateport."

"You've been to Petalburg?" Hudson asked, suddenly excited. "Wow. Is Norman just as badass as he is when he battles?"

"I've… never seen him battle, but he seems pretty intense," Delaney said, thinking of the formal man she had met with.

"He's the best!" Hudson said with a broad smile. "I always thought he was the toughest leader in the League… Way better than that wimpy ass Wallace. When I'm a gym leader who battles, I totally want to be like Norman."

Delaney couldn't help but chuckle at Hudson's comments. It seemed like nobody was really part of Wallace's fan club- but then again, if he had been leaking information to Team Aqua, that was pretty understandable. "He seemed like a cool guy," Delaney said, though really, she hadn't talked to Norman for long enough to make much of a judgment. "So hey, you know Hoenn much better than I do- where should I go next? Where's another gym town?"

"Well, the trainers after Mauville go to Lavaridge and they really had a lot to deal with, so that's probably a good place," the dark-haired girl said.

"Remind me of the gym leader's name again?" Delaney said, not really wanting to pull out her information, though she knew she had it all written down somewhere in her bag.

"Jackson. He's some big trainer from Sinnoh that's replacing Flannery. He's pretty cool," Hudson said with a nod before breaking out into a devilish little smile. "And hot. Totally hot."

"I'll keep that in mind, I guess," Delaney said with a chuckle. "Lavaridge it is. Well I should probably get back to my room… It's been a long day."

"Yeah, okay," Hudson said. "Hey so, we're cool, right?"

"Yeah!" Delaney said. "I think we just got off on the wrong foot… So I'm sorry for being kind of a jerk. I'm going to head out to Lavaridge in the morning, but do you have any questions or anything for me?" It was the same question she had asked both Sarah and Norman before she had left their gyms, and it was something she hadn't asked Hudson before stomping off.

"What was it like battling Team Galactic?" Hudson asked without missing a beat. Sarah, too, had responded with that question. It was probably normal, considering that was all Delaney was really known for.

Instead of brushing her off and asking for more gym-related things like she had Sarah, Delaney pondered over an answer for a moment. "It was hard," Delaney said. "I know that sounds kind of generic, but really, it was- it was really difficult and a lot of the time, I didn't want to do it. I didn't understand why Cynthia or the gym leaders couldn't do it instead of just letting a teenage girl handle it by herself." It was amazing how bitter she still sounded so many years later, even to her own ears.

Hudson seemed surprised by this answer. "It wasn't cool like, being a hero and saving the world and junk?"

Delaney was quick to shake her head. "I never wanted to be anybody's hero. I never wanted things to end up the way they did." Her mouth was pressed into a straight line as she became irritated with the whole thing all over again. "I've really got to go," she said shortly. "If you need anything, really, don't hesitate to call me or Steven if I'm not around."

"Okay, bye," Hudson said. The dark-haired girl began to head back in the direction of her gym.

Seeing as how Delaney hadn't battled and still had a room key, there was no need for her to go to the front desk, so she avoided it and just headed straight up to her room. Surprisingly, Sawyer wasn't back yet from wherever he had gone, and so she had the room to herself. She changed into her usual shorts and t-shirt in record time and then flopped down on the bed. It would've normally been an ideal time to call out her team, but instead she just left them in their pokèballs.

Instead, she just pressed her face into the pillow and began to cry.

* * *

**Author's Note (8/19/12): **Goodbye summer... I know a lot of you are probably already back in school (and really, my "summer" only lasted 2 weeks and I still had work and a billion other things to do...) but my semester starts tomorrow. Before I started back in on the craziness of school, I definitely wanted to make sure I had an update for you all... Because like the overachiever I am, I'm going to be starting in on reading my textbooks and doing flashcards after posting this, despite the fact that I haven't been to any classes yet.

I'm definitely _not _under any circumstances stating that I'm not updating while school is in session, because that's not my intentions. For the first time ever, I'm going to have a day off (yes, a whole day!) that I intend to spend writing, so my updates should still be fairly frequent... Though if I have tests or what not to study for, I may miss a week of updating so if I'm a bit infrequent, I apologize. My schoolwork is definitely coming first this semester though, as a lot of the grad programs I'm looking at count GPA from junior standing and up- and this is my first semester as a junior. As much as I hate the thought of spending my evenings reading Oedipus Rex for the billionth time (okay, well the seventh, between high school and college) instead of writing about Delaney's (mis)adventures, it's unfortunately necessary with the schools I'm trying to get into.

So if it's taking me awhile to update... Check my profile on here first. I will try to post something when I know I'm going to have heavy homework loads, or tests/papers coming up, or whatever.

Chapter 6 DEFINITELY shouldn't take that long though, so I'll see you next week. Thanks as always to the wonderful **Noteleks** and to all of you who take the time to read and/or review this story. It is beyond mere appreciation. (:

~DAT


	7. 06: Call It What You Want

_Here is a moment for you. It's the afternoon, and I've stopped to have lunch on my way to Veilstone City. It's nice out, moderate temperature. Clouds are starting to roll in. You can tell it's going to rain later. I'm sitting on the ground, playing with my pokedex and relaxing. I've let my pokemon out to relax as well. At the time, I had Blitzkrieg, a monferno, Samuel, a luxio, and Marvel, a togepi. Blitzkrieg and Samuel were sparring and playing around, like boys do, but Marvel? He had found something more interesting- a group of small starly. He thought it would be amusing to chase them around and pull their feathers. They thought it would be amusing to go get their mother._

_After hearing some squawking, I put my pokedex away to find a large staraptor prodding Marvel and Marvel attempting to run from the large bird. The little egg was no longer amused, though Samuel, Blitzkrieg and I were. Marvel never thought it was amusing to pick on smaller pokemon ever again._

* * *

**Chapter 06: Call It What You Want**

"This," Delaney said, looking up at the gray sky in wonder. Quickly, she pulled her eyes back in front of her, as the Jagged Pass could easily have her tumbling down the side of Mount Chimney in no time. It was indeed, as its name implied, jagged and Delaney was clumsy- not a good combination. "This is incredible. I haven't seen snow since I lived in Sinnoh. I didn't even know it snowed anywhere else! But this snow is kind of weird because it's coming down pretty hard, but I'm not cold at all." She held her hand out to collect a few flakes, just as she had done as a child, but she was surprised to find that they didn't melt. Instead, a pile of small white spheres began collecting in her hand. "Yeah, this is really weird snow."

"Del, it's not snow," Sawyer said with a chuckle. "It's ash from Mount Chimney."

"Oh," she said with a frown, dismayed. She dropped the small pile out of her hand. "Well that makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?"

"I'd grab a hat if I was you, or it's going to mess up your hair," he suggested. Delaney wrinkled her nose and reached into her bag to see what she had. The only hat she could find in the whirlwind calamity of things that composed her bag was the one she had worn through her Unova journey. She couldn't bring herself to wear it, but she also couldn't bring herself to toss it, so she left it in the purgatory of the bag and went hatless. She would apparently have to take a shower when she got to Lavaridge before meeting with gym leader Jackson. "We're pretty close, aren't we?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Delaney said. "I think it's directly east of this pass." She couldn't help but note that this was the most that Delaney and Sawyer had talked in two days. After the fiasco of The Nascence meeting, Delaney had pretended to be asleep when Sawyer came in that night- she really didn't want to discussion the humiliation that had been rampant in the meeting, nor did she want to discuss Nick. Their leaving Mauville had been pretty wordless as well, as Delaney had spent much of the earlier part of the walk on a phone call with Steven. She was curious to know how Sawyer had spent the day yesterday, but seeing as how this was some sort of fight, she figured outright asking was off-limits at the moment.

Delaney opted to stay silent as they made their way down the Jagged Pass, choosing instead to focus on the terrain in front of her. She took one, two, three whole steps without nearly maiming herself on a boulder and found herself grinning.

_Sorry to scare you. My cubchoo and I were out for a walk when I heard you._

The brunette jumped at the echo of the voice and suddenly found herself sprawled in a patch of ash-covered grass. The white substance got all over her jeans, t-shirt and all over the uncovered parts of her body as well as she pulled herself back up. She looked around, eyes wide, but there was nothing there but Sawyer looking at her like she had gone crazy. "Hey, are you okay? What happened?"

"Just tripped," she said, forcing herself to grin. "You know me."

Sawyer nodded, accepting the entirely probable explanation, and continued to head down the pass. They were nearly at the bottom now. Actually, Delaney was pretty lucky she hadn't just tumbled all the way to the bottom. Her heart was beating rapidly as she too began to walk down the rough pass again.

Of course, she was crazy. In this instance, she really wasn't going to deny that. After months in Johto replaying that one night over and over again in her brain, she hadn't flashed back to Drew- to _Alex_- in months. She had forced herself to stop trying to figure out why she hadn't immediately known it was him and just try to accept that it was a tragic mistake. Somehow, this had brought back memories of Twist Mountain.

_Delaney, stop it._

The brunette shook her head and hopped off the last small cliff of Jagged Pass. She was relieved to land on her feet and she jogged the smoother terrain to where Sawyer was standing, waiting for her. Houses began to line the side of the road only feet ahead of them. "Well, I guess we're here," Sawyer said, gesturing to the small town that was rolling out in front of them.

"I guess we are," Delaney said, following the road past a sign that said "Welcome to Lavaridge Town! Gym Leader: Hugh Moore" in faded red letters. Within just a few minutes, Delaney and Sawyer found themselves in the center of the small town, where Delaney could see nearly the entire town. A few people milled about outside, staring curiously at the young brunette with the violet eyes and the lanky boy with curly auburn hair that stood by her side.

When Hudson had told her that Lavaridge had seen some trouble, she had really expected the worst coming into Lavaridge, but from what she could see, most of the buildings were freshly painted and there were budding gardens popping up all over town. The only construction that she could see was on the Pokemon Center, where the roof looked pretty done in, and there was also apparently a structure being built (or rebuilt) right behind it. Delaney had to admit, she was more than a little surprised. When she turned to speak to Sawyer about it all, she found him in conversation with three old women, each one cooing over his curls a little more than the last.

"I bet this here is your girlfriend! What a catch, son!" grinned a heavyset gray-haired woman in a yellow sweater and floral scarf. "Of course, she's lucky too. You're just cute as pie!"

"Oh no no no," Delaney said, flushing. "Best friend."

"Definitely best friend," Sawyer confirmed, shooting a sideways glance at her.

"Well you need to get on that, boy!" she said, wagging a finger in his face. "You're not going to be this cute forever and I'm sure there are plenty of boys trying to snap this one up."

"Eva, leave those poor kids alone," a thin waiflike woman with long blondish hair in a long white dress and a sunhat said, scolding the heavier one. "Welcome to Lavaridge. We usually don't get too many visitors, especially not since Mount Chimney erupted. We're glad to have you here."

"Thanks ma'am," Sawyer said cordially, smiling at the women. "It's nice to meet you all."

The willowy woman shook Sawyer's hand, and then Delaney's. "You look familiar," she told Delaney, eyeing her.

The third woman, a short woman with long, thick jet black hair and spectacles, had been silent up until this point. "Of course she does, Diane. You know who this is, don't you?" She pointed to Delaney. "This is that girl from the television, the Elite Four girl, Delaney."

"You look much prettier than you do on television!" Eva exclaimed.

"Flannery did say that someone from the Elite Four would be by to check in on the town," Diane said thoughtfully.

"I suppose she's here to see _him_ then," the dark-haired woman said with a scowl.

"Him?" Sawyer said, exchanging a skeptical look with Delaney. It was nice to know that even if they were fighting (which Delaney wasn't totally sure if they were anyways), he would still side with her against a group of exuberant senior citizens.

"That boy who took Flannery's place," she said with a huff. "Jackson."

"Oh Barb, stop being such a grump. The boy is doing the best he can," Diane said diplomatically. "Poor kid came to town to battle Flannery and all the sudden, Mount Chimney is blowing up. Bad run of luck! He didn't have to stay and help though and he did, bless his heart."

"Arrogant fool!" Barbara declared, shaking her head. Delaney's eyes grew wide and she shot a glance at Sawyer.

"He's sure up on his high horse," Eva said, nodding enthusiastically. "Done good for our city, but you can't even talk to the boy without some smart comment or rolling those darn eyes."

Delaney was growing less enthusiastic about meeting Jackson by the second. "I guess I should go see him before it gets too late," she said reluctantly.

"Yes, you should get to the gym now and get to talk to that rapscallion," Sawyer said with a grin. "Lovely to meet you ladies."

"Nice to meet you too! Take care now!" Diane said with a kind smile.

As they walked away from the group that was still chattering heatedly amongst themselves, Sawyer chuckled "Too late, Del? It's four-thirty."

"Rapscallion, Sawyer?" she countered. "They were making me really afraid to talk to this guy," she said after a moment's pause. "I mean, I figured somebody who comes in to help a city that he doesn't even live in couldn't be that bad, but the way that one lady was making it sound, he's kind of mean."

"Most people would just call him an asshole," a voice said behind them. Delaney and Sawyer both whirled around. A tall young man with an athletic build and sandy brown hair stood before them with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his dark brown eyes flickering with amusement despite the blank look on his face. "I take it you're talking about Jackson."

"Um, yes?" Delaney said hesitantly. "I'm heading over to go see him." Even though she really didn't need to tell this complete stranger that, she felt the need to justify herself for some reason.

"He's not in his gym at the moment," he said.

"Oh," Delaney said. She turned to Sawyer with a dismayed look. "I guess we could go check in to the Pokemon Center and pop into the gym a bit later then."

"He's not in his gym at the moment," the stranger repeated, "because he's talking to you right now. Jackson Street, that'd be me."

Delaney flushed. "Oh! I guess I should've gotten that… I'm Delaney and this is my friend, Sawyer," she said, extending her hand to him.

He didn't take that. Instead, he stuck his hands in the pocket of his jeans. "I know who you are. Is 'your friend Sawyer' your assistant or something?"

"No," Sawyer said. "Just traveling around with her around Hoenn."

"Well, friend Sawyer, would you mind terribly if this talk was a one-on-one, gym leader to Elite Four thing?" he asked. Delaney looked up at him in surprise.

Sawyer looked equally surprised. "No, that's totally fine. I'll go get us a room, Del." And with that, he left. His pursed lips and hurried steps indicated he was at least a little miffed, which she was sure she'd hear about later, as it seemed their tiff had subsided, or at the very least, was on hiatus.

He began to walk towards what appeared to be a large bathhouse, though seeing as how it was the largest building in town, Delaney was guessing it was really the gym. There was an awkward silence between the two as he hurried forward with his hands in his jeans pockets and she struggled to keep up with him on her shorter legs. They were a few paces away from the gym when she felt the need to break the awkward silence. "So this place looks really great," she said, forcing a grin.

"Not too bad for an asshole," he said, raising an eyebrow as his coffee-colored eyes again flashed with amusement.

"I didn't say you were-" Delaney sputtered.

"Didn't say you did," Jackson said, staring directly into Delaney's violet eyes. "Is that your real eye color or are those contacts?"

"They're real," she said, surprised at the sudden change of subject.

"Never seen purple eyes before," he said, taking his hands out of his pockets and opening the door. He again surprised Delaney by holding it open and allowing her to go through the door first. He didn't really strike her as someone with exquisite manners. "So what is it that we need to discuss?"

"Well, I guess we should start with you telling me what you've accomplished since you've been here?" Delaney said, looking around the gym. It was completely empty besides the two of them. It looked like there had been some sort of puzzle with manholes or something before, but clearly Jackson didn't bother with keeping up with the gym, which was a stark contrast from Hudson's perfectly maintained but more or less useless gym in Mauville.

"Fixed stuff," he said with a shrug, his hands returning to his pockets.

"Would you mind elaborating a bit for me please?" she asked.

"Well half of this town was buried in lava after Mount Chimney erupted," he said. "A lot of houses were totally destroyed and we had to rebuild them. Clear the debris, the hardened magma, the ash, you know. We're just now finishing repairs to the Pokemon Center. We haven't really had visitors, so it wasn't a priority. We also had a lot of damage to the hot springs, which were Lavaridge's main attraction, so we're trying to fix that up." He paused. "Is that good for you, Miss Elite Four?"

Delaney couldn't say she appreciated the hint of hostility behind his voice. "No, that's great… You really have done a lot of really good work, Jackson," she said. "I believe someone was telling me that you were originally just coming to battle Flannery when this all happened?"

"Yep."

"And you're from Sinnoh?" she asked, trying to maintain some bit of pleasantries in the conversation.

"Yep, just like you. 'Cept I obviously couldn't stay there, seeing as how there are some morons in space pajamas invading everything. Thanks for that, by the way," he said, not even trying to hide the bitterness from his voice.

"I… I'm sorry," Delaney stammered.

"If you were really sorry, you'd be over there trying to get rid of them instead of playing Elite Four here, but I can see how looking important is more of a priority."

"What about you?" Delaney shot back. "This isn't your home."

"When Mount Chimney erupted and all of that nonsense with Magma and Aqua and whatnot went down, Flannery went into meltdown mode. Lavaridge needed a leader, so I stepped up. That's the difference, Miss Elite Four. They needed me. Nobody here needs you. If Steven really wanted to know how Hoenn was looking, he should've been coming around himself."

Delaney felt like she had been slapped, but she held back any further words before she ended up in a similar situation to the one she had been in with Hudson. "Do you have any plans for the future? For safeguarding against any further trauma?" she asked stiffly, going back to discussing Lavaridge and Lavaridge _only._

"You can't really safeguard against a volcano," Jackson said with a shrug. "We're just lucky it didn't wipe out the whole town and everyone with it, but we can't guarantee that next time it won't totally wipe Lavaridge off the map. Is that it? Is that all you need to ask?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in charge of Fallabor as well?" she asked dully, recalling what Steven had told her to ask about earlier.

"Everything in Fallabor is completely taken care of," Jackson said, nodding. "Old Hugh helped me with what little there was to be done there while I took over here."

"Old Hugh?" Delaney asked, confused.

"Flannery's grandfather. Used to be the gym leader here," Jackson explained. "Are we done?"

Delaney took a deep breath, trying to maintain her cool. "Look, Jackson, I'm not sure what I did to offend you, but I'm sorry if I said something to upset you…"

"Look, Miss Elite Four, I'm sure you're a nice enough girl in your own way. You know, you've got the tragic pretty girl thing going on with the dorky best friend who follows you everywhere and worships you and everyone thinks you're the best and I'm sorry, but I just don't see why. You _failed_ to beat Galactic and Plasma. Downright failed, and instead of going back to fight, you disappeared for a couple years and now all the sudden, you're back and somehow, after _failing_, you're an Elite Four member? I call bullshit," he said, a flicker of anger showing up behind his espresso-colored eyes.

Stunned, Delaney turned her back to the gym leader and headed for the door. It was wise to head out before she really started fuming and began to say things she would eventually regret. "Have a good night, Jackson," she said through gritted teeth. She had apologized. She had done her good deed. It was over now and hopefully now that she had been through Lavaridge, she wouldn't have to see him again.

Her head was swirling as she made the short distance across the center of the town to the Pokemon Center. Sawyer was sitting in the lobby waiting for her. "You need to take a shower," were his first words to her. "Your hair looks all gross from the ash."

"Why in the hell am I even here?" she burst out.

Sawyer was unfazed. "Because Steven Stone asked you to and you weren't about to say no to Steven Stone?"

"I am totally useless here!" she exclaimed.

"Let's go upstairs, Del," Sawyer said calmly. "You're scaring people." Indeed, the nurse on duty as well as the two old men gambling in the corner of the room were all looking at her in bewilderment, but that was one of the last things Delaney was concerned with.

Sawyer began to steer her to their room, but that didn't stop Delaney from exploding. "I don't know how many damn times I need to apologize for losing to Cyrus and Ghetsis," she said, beginning to shake with anger. "Arceus knows I'll never forgive myself for leaving Sinnoh and Unova to them, but I tried."

"We were outnumbered," Sawyer murmured in her ear as he guided her to the room right at the top of the stairs. "There's nothing you can do about it now, though. That was nearly three years ago, Del."

"I lost a lot to them too," she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation as she walked through the doorway of the room. "My parents are still suffering under them. My friends are still there. Alex…" she said and her voice drifted off. "Paws. Whatever happened to Paws?"

"What?" Sawyer said, confused at the direction the conversation had gone in. She had gone from livid to woeful in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

"Drew… Alex's cubchoo, Paws. Remember he stayed with us at Twist Mountain? What happened to him? When Alex… Did he?"

"He probably made it out okay," Sawyer said, trying to reassure her, but he was clearly not convinced. "He had his pokéball. He might just be roaming the wild now."

Sawyer guided Delaney to the end of one of the twin beds and sat her down. He took a seat next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Del, what happened? You haven't mentioned Alex in a long time."

"I just didn't do anything…" she muttered.

A lightbulb went on over Sawyer's head. "Did that jackass gym leader have anything to do with this?"

"He's from Sinnoh," she said with a distant gaze. "He asked why I was here instead of back there helping." Her violet eyes finally found Sawyer's green ones. "I can't go back, Sawyer. I can't do it. I lost once. It would do nobody any good for me to go back and lose again. It'd just give Cyrus a very unneeded ego boost."

"That guy does _not_ need an ego boost," Sawyer nodded. "Del, what did this guy say to you? Did he say something that maybe you should tell Steven about? It sounds like he was really hurtful."

Delaney shook her head vigorously. "I am not telling Steven about this. I don't need to explain the logic of why it makes no sense for me to be here. It's possible that he'll see the light and tell me to get the hell out of Hoenn."

"I'm not getting into this, because we've already talked about how obviously Steven thinks you deserve the position you're in, but seriously, you should tell him that this guy was a major jerk and a half to you," Sawyer insisted. Delaney merely shook her head again. "Well, if you're not going to listen to me, then go take a shower. Your hair is all sorts of filthy."

Delaney sighed and then gave Sawyer a huge hug. "Thanks, Sawyer."

"I can't stay mad at you for too long," he said. "Now really, Del, shower."

Delaney chuckled as she stood up and grabbed her bag, which she didn't even remember throwing down on the floor by the chair. She grabbed her bathroom goods out of there, as well as her usual pajamas and then went to take her shower.

Usually hot showers were her time to relax, but Delaney's mind was swimming as she lathered up her hair. There was definitely nothing peaceful going on in her head that night. Jackson's angry statements echoed between her ears, as did the girl from the Nascence meeting and intermeshed with that all was _his _voice. _You're welcome to stay if you need a place to wait out the storm…I met her once when I was passing through Unova…You seem familiar… _And then, somewhere in the background was Sawyer talking to somebody and Delaney's ears rang and her head hurt and she was ready for bed. She was ready for it to be tomorrow already… Well, really, she just wanted to curl up under the covers and stay there.

Seeing as how she was not even remotely achieving tranquility, she decided to just get out of the shower and get to bed. She threw on an oversized black t-shirt and faded blue terry shorts and stepped out, her hair sopping wet.

Sawyer was hanging up from a call on the Crosstransceiver- her Crosstransceiver, she realized, with a closer glance. "Del, that was Steven. He wants you back to Evergrande first thing in the morning for a meeting with the rest of the Elite Four."

"Okay," she said, crawling under the covers of the twin bed that Sawyer was not occupying and pulling them over her head.

"Del?"

"Yes, Sawyer?"

"It's six-thirty. In the evening. Do you want to get dinner or something?"

"No, you go on ahead," she muttered, burying her face in the cotton blanket.

"Are you sure because I can-"

"Sawyer, go ahead," she said. "I really would like to go to bed."

"Okay," he said. She could hear apprehension in his voice. "Hey Del?"

"Yes, Sawyer?"

"Everything's going to be okay."

Delaney groaned loudly. "Everything will look better after I get some sleep," she said.

"Good… evening, Del," Sawyer said and a few seconds later, Delaney heard the door close. With that, she began drifting into an uneasy sleep. Hopefully everything would look better in the morning.

* * *

**Author's Note (9/30/12): **So since it's been five million years, I'm not sure if you remember this but you may recall me mentioning a day off every week that I would have to write... Wellllllll... Shortly after writing that chapter, I quit my job and picked up a new one and now I'm not sure what this phenomenon called a day off is (or the one called 'free time'). So that's just one factor in many that explains why I haven't updated in five million years, the other primarily being that for the first time in three years of college, I've made being a student my priority and so that's where my focus is for the most part- school. The stress is starting to ease off a little bit, though, so here I am.

I am already writing chapter 7 and it will be in the hands of my fabulous beta and friend **Noteleks **(who I appreciate so, so much) before the end of today, so you can bet there will be an update next week.

If there are any of you who are still around and reading, so many thanks to you. See you next week. (:

~DarkAngelTorchic


	8. 07: You Do, You Don't

_I would like to believe that good triumphs over bad, as cliché as that sounds. I would like to believe that. I have yet to see it._

* * *

**Chapter 07: You Do, You Don't**

Once again, Delaney and Sawyer found themselves outside the wide steel doors that made it seem like Rayquaza was slumbering behind them, but this time, things were much different. Instead of the excitement of being an Elite Four member and meeting Steven Stone, Delaney stood there in a pair of jeans and a white tank top dreading having to open the doors.

Sawyer stood beside her, waiting for her to go in so that he could go take a nap. He apparently hadn't gotten a good night's sleep. "They're probably waiting for you."

"Yeah, I know," Delaney mumbled, but her hands remained in her pocket, not pushing the door open.

For once, Sawyer was quiet, not trying to give her some sort of pep talk. They stood there in an awkward silence (really, any sort of silence was awkward for Sawyer) for a few moments as Delaney procrastinated and Sawyer waited until finally the curly-haired boy glanced at her and said, "I'm going to go back to my room."

"Okay," Delaney said. With Sawyer gone, Delaney considered just jetting and abandoning the meeting altogether, but she knew that wasn't an option. She sighed and pushed the heavy door open into meeting room A.

The room looked identical to how it had been the last time she was there, with the large square table, but this time, there was only one seat open- one for her. She took the seat, which was next to Riley and shot a nervous smile at the rest of the group. "Hi Delaney!" Flannery said enthusiastically.

"Hi everyone," Delaney said quietly.

"Thank you for joining us. I know you're busy," Steven said. "As I was just telling everyone, I thought it was important that we all touch base so that we're all on the same page. I talk to each of you often, but you don't really get the chance to communicate amongst yourselves, so I thought I would give you the opportunity. I think it's good for you all to know about the work being done elsewhere. Burgh, why don't you start?"

The former Castelia gym leader was without scarf for the first time that Delaney could remember. "Well, planning for the fundraiser is well underway," he began. "Nicolai, my protegee, is out collecting donations for it as we speak. He's also been taking photographs of the rebuilding taking place. We'd like to display some work at the fundraiser to show what Hoenn has been going through."

"Are you planning on selling it? Because I think that could be really cool," Flannery interjected. "You know, this is really going to be looked back at as a big moment in Hoenn's history. The idea of having a keepsake is just kind of cool. Just saying."

"I really hadn't thought about it," Burgh mused. "But I like it. I'll talk to Nicolai and see what he thinks." He turned to Steven. "What do you think?"

"I think it's an excellent idea," Steven said with a smile at Flannery.

"Maybe is there a fund or something we could put the profits from the artwork in? Like for displaced families or something?" the energetic artist asked, getting more and more pumped up at this idea by the second.

"Not at the moment, but we can start one if that's what you'd like to do with the profits- though, of course, as the artists, you and Nicolai are entitled to them."

"I don't think I'd feel right profiting from them," Burgh said. "I'd definitely like to start a fund."

"We'll set one up then," Steven said. He turned to Flannery. "Miss Hughes?"

"We have a Pokemon Center up and running again," she said, beaming. "One of the younger nurses-in-training from Lilycove has agreed to help us. Not like there's much for her to do, but it's still nice to have in case something happens."

"That's great!" Steven said. "What's next for you, then?"

"A couple members of my team have started building houses, but I'm going to try and start on a gym so that maybe soon we can get an established leader back in Fortree," she said. Delaney couldn't help but wonder if she was referring to her friend, the former gym leader that nobody had seen in a long time.

"Well at least they have you in the meantime," Burgh said, patting her arm.

"This all sounds great," Steven said. He turned to Delaney. "Miss Caldwell?"

She had expected him to turn to Riley next and was caught off guard. "Um, I just finished up with Lavaridge," she stumbled.

"How is it over there?" Steven asked.

"It's great. They're finishing up the last of their repairs. Jackson has done a good job," she said, though she hating giving any praise to the Lavaridge gym leader after their meeting the day before.

"Oh I'm _so _glad to hear that," Flannery interrupted. "I was kind of worried about handing off my gym to a stranger, but I thought he'd do a good job… And I'm glad he is. What do the people of Lavaridge think of him?"

"They miss you, that's for sure," Delaney said, not wanting to turn their meeting into a Jackson-bashing session. She cleared her throat. "So I was looking at my map and I think I'm going to head to Dewford Town next. Being an island, surely they had some damage from the storms."

"I think you should wait on Dewford Town," Riley cut in. Delaney looked at the usually silent Riley in surprise. "That's where I'll be heading tomorrow. According to Brawley, there's been a lot of gang activity and I don't know if you would be safe there."

"Gang activity?" Steven asked, clearly surprised. "Why haven't you mentioned it before?"

"Because I just found out about a group of Team Magma members hiding in Dewford Cave," he said. The room was silent as the Elite four tried to process this. Flannery turned red, quickly becoming enraged and Steven adjusted his posture and looked Riley straight in the eye, waiting for him to continue. "I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, I'm sorry. Apparently they're pretty much contained to the cave, but they're still causing trouble around town. Brawley has been working really hard to get them out of Dewford, but he's not even sure how many of them there are... So he asked for my help. I'll be heading there after I leave here." He turned to Delaney. "So please, don't get yourself involved with that. You don't need to deal with any more of these groups."

"Because I'd fail, right?" Delaney muttered under her breath. Four heads whipped around to face her and all of their faces spelled out shock. "I'm sorry… Um, I'll stay away from Dewford for now. Where should I head next then?"

"I'll be in Mossdeep tomorrow if you want to meet me there, Delaney," Steven spoke up, though his usually steely eyes were still full of surprise. "I can show you around the security base and then I can escort you to Sootopolis. You'll need to go see them, but it's rather hard to find, especially if you're not familiar with the region."

"That sounds fine," Delaney said, turning red.

"Riley, do you have anything else to tell us?" Steven asked pointedly.

"No, sir," Riley said, pursing his lips. "I apologize for not telling you before about Team Magma."

"Don't worry about it, Riley," Steven said. "Just make sure to let me know about what happens when you get there." He turned to address the rest of the group. "The last thing I want to tell you before I dismiss you all… Well, first, great job so far. I would like to remind you to please schedule your next appointments with Dr. Reynolds before the end of the week. She'll be back in Hoenn next week and I'd like for you all to see her while she's here. You've all been through varying degrees of chaos fairly recently, and it's really important to me that you deal with the issues that come up. I'd like to know you have some sort of support system." He cleared his throat. "You all are dismissed. Thank you for meeting here today." And with that, Steven walked away from the table and subsequently headed out the door.

Though they had been dismissed, the four Elite Four members just sat there and stared at each other. It was finally Riley who spoke first. "I didn't mean it that way, Delaney," he said, turning to face the brunette at his right. "All I was saying was that I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah, especially not by _Team _Magma, right? Since we've already seen what I could do against _Team _Galactic and _Team _Plasma. Don't want another repeat of that," Delaney said dryly.

"Oh Delaney, you know that's not what he meant," Burgh spoke up. "And even if it was, why bring it up? Do you just want somebody to tell you again that you did as much as you could and it's not your fault? Do you just need some sort of constant reassurance?"

Flannery and Riley both turned to Burgh, eyes wide. "None of you people are ever going to let me forget that I failed, are you?" Delaney muttered.

"You won't let yourself forget it!" Burgh argued. "Riley wasn't saying anything along those lines at all. You turned it into that. But since you're so eager to talk about it, let's talk, Delaney."

"I tried. _You _said that Steven said not to talk to me about it, but since you're so chatty now, Burgh, please tell me about Unova." Where Burgh's attitude came from, Delaney had no idea. She had never seen him as anything about kind and reassuring.

…But that wasn't true, was it? Delaney often forgot about her gym battle against Burgh, where he had clucked at her in dismay over her unwillingness to step in where Team Plasma was concerned. Sure, he hadn't been downright angry, like he was now, but he was still butting in and playing Jiminy Cricket and trying to make her feel bad. Just like now.

"Well, since you _asked_, dear Delaney, Unova is straight garbage. There are a handful of people who still have pokemon, so there's pretty much no chance that Cyrus and Ghetsis will be overthrown. They live in this castle that's taken over where the Pokemon League _used _to be and I'm sure Sinnoh's not much better. Supplies go directly to Galactic and Plasma, so nobody really has enough to eat and any resistance efforts utterly fail because nobody can really fight."

Delaney didn't try to argue. Instead, she just took in the grim reality of what he told her. "Burgh, why are you so mad?" Flannery, who had been quiet up to this point, asked softly.

"I guess," he said, taking a deep breath. "I guess I'm just mad I'm here. It seems kind of pointless to be taking pictures and planning a party with everything going on there… But what's even more annoying is that as useless as I am here, I'm even more useless there." He looked at Delaney. "But you just took off right after that was all done. I tried to fight them. You just left and now you just want everyone to tell you that you tried and that's okay and it's not."

"You know as well as I do that if she had tried to stay, Cyrus would've had her killed," Riley spoke up.

"Actually, he would've killed me himself. There's no way he would've given the pleasure of that job to anyone else," Delaney said, staring coldly at Burgh.

"There's no way she could've stayed, Burgh," Riley finished, staring at his hands. He clearly didn't like the conflict arising, nor did he like being involved in it.

"What did you do then, Delaney? Before coming here?" Burgh asked. "Nobody knows except you. What did you do?"

Delaney avoided meeting his questioning gaze. "I went to Johto."

"Started the gym challenge there, then, of course," Burgh scoffed.

"No," Delaney said, shaking her head and still not meeting his eyes. "The plane dropped me off in Olivine. I walked to Ecruteak and I stayed at the Pokemon Center there for about two years."

"What did you do?" Flannery asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"I laid in bed a lot," Delaney said. "I wondered what could've happened if I had done things differently. If I had stayed in Sinnoh and fought against Galactic before they got so big instead of letting my dad ship me off to Unova… If I had tried to fight against Team Plasma from the very beginning instead of avoiding them… If I had realized… Well, you get the picture."

It was uncomfortably quiet again. "Well what about going back?" Burgh asked, the anger gone from his voice. "You're stronger now. You could do it."

"What, I can go back and be ambushed by grunts who take my pokemon and then bring me to Cyrus so that he can slit my throat?" Delaney said with a skeptical look. "I will never go back. I _can't_ ever go back." She finally got up from the table and began to walk away, like she should've done right after the meeting. "Good night everyone."

"Delaney, wait!" she heard Flannery call.

"Let her go," Riley said softly. She could feel eyes on her back as she walked away, but there was absolutely nothing that could convince her to stay there. She headed right for the heavy steel doors and let the door slam behind her and headed quickly to her room.

Though there was nothing she hated more than crying, there were tears streaking down her face as she opened the door to find Sawyer and Synapse on her bed. They both looked up at her, surprised. "Did you have a bad meeting?" Sawyer asked softly.

"What if I had realized it was him?" Delaney asked, standing in the doorway. "I would've never let him come with us. Cyrus would've never seen him. He could still be alive. How could I _not _know, Sawyer? After everything we went through, how could I not know?"

"Del, you never would've stopped him from going up there, whether he was Drew or Alex. He never would've let you fight against them alone, so just stop," he said. He got up from the bed and wrapped his arms around Delaney, who could do nothing but cry into his shoulder.

They stood like that for a while until Sawyer finally broke away from her. "I think you need to do something fun. I was thinking of going to the pool to see Fluffy. Do you want to come with me?"

"I can think of several things I'd rather do than go see Fluffy. If I remember correctly, he's not so fond of me," Delaney said wryly, wiping away her tears. "I think I'm going to take a nap before we head to Mossdeep. Would you mind taking Perry though?"

"Of course not. He'll be good protection if that scary shark is there again," Sawyer said, nodding. "Should I just get into your bag and get his pokéball?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Delaney said, collapsing into the queen-sized bed. And even though her face was buried in the pillow, she could see Synapse's worried glances. "Why don't you go to the pool too, Synapse? Sawyer's going to need all the protection he can get from the scary shark."

"Ha ha ha," Sawyer said dryly. "So funny, Delaney… But really, I do. And besides, we can finish up our conversation. Wanna come, Synapse?"

"I guess…" the psychic pokemon said hesitantly. "Are you sure you don't mind, Delaney?"

"Not at all, Synapse," Delaney said, lifting her head from the pillow long enough to reply.

"Well… Okay," Synapse said and she floated towards Sawyer.

"If you need anything, call me. I'll have my Crosstransceiver with me unless Fluffy eats it, but after what happened last time, I don't think he'll try it again." Delaney had to laugh.

"Okay, Sawyer, have fun and don't get eaten by sharks," she said. Sawyer grimaced at her and then he and Synapse headed out the door.

Delaney remained in bed for about five minutes, just to make sure they didn't change their minds, and then she got up and grabbed her own Crosstransceiver from her bag. She scrolled down the contact list until she found what she was looking for and before she could talk herself out of it, she hit the call button. It rang twice before the face of Nick Grimm appeared on her scream and burst into a wide grin. "Hi there, beautiful," he said brightly. Delaney forced a smile at him, but he caught notice of her current mood anyways. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm just… When's your next meeting?"

"You want to come?" Nick asked, unable to hide his excitement.

"Yeah I'd like to help… Not as a member, because I still don't think that's allowed, but you know, I'd like to find something to do to help because I… Because it's important. Is that okay? Can I still help without being like, an official member?" She was rambling and she knew it.

"Of course you can," Nick said softly. "We appreciate help in any way we can get it… And you know, I'd just like to see you again, but that's just me being selfish."

Delaney couldn't help but break out into a small grin. "Good because I want to help… And I guess seeing you wouldn't be so bad either," she teased. Calling Nick had been a good idea- she felt a bit better already.

"There's that pretty smile," Nick said with a grin. "We have a meeting in two days. Again, kind of short notice, but we're not very good at planning. Does that sound okay to you?"

"I'll have to double check it, but it should be fine," she said. She thought for a second. "Do you mind if I bring a friend?"

"I will never say no to another helper but… Not a boyfriend or anything, right?" Nick asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"No!" she said quickly. "Just my best friend Sawyer. I don't even know if he'll come, but I'm going to try and convince him. He's from Unova too so… he'll understand. I think."

"Good, because I'd hate to have to share," Nick said with a wink. "Listen, Delaney, I have to go make a drop-off at Lilycove, so can I call you later?"

"Yeah, totally," Delaney said. "No problem."

"Are you sure you're okay? You looked pretty upset when you first called," Nick said, his smile turning into a frown for just a moment.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Delaney said. "Thanks for talking to me, Nick."

"Well Miss Delaney, the pleasure was all mine," he said, a grin coming across his face once again. "See you soon."

"Bye," Delaney said, hanging up the phone. She put her Crosstransceiver next to her pillow and laid down again. Maybe she would get a nap after all.

* * *

Delaney was fifteen minutes into her nap when the Crosstransceiver began to ring again. She grabbed it and pressed to 'accept' the call without thinking. It was probably Nick calling her back, but she didn't know why he would call back so soon.

Instead, though, it was Steven's face that filled up her screen. "Hello Delaney," he said. He seemed to take in her rumpled appearance and weary eyes. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

"Oh, no, just taking a nap while Sawyer hangs out at the pool," she said, forcing a grin.

"Listen, Delaney, I expected to spend the rest of today in a very extensive meeting with Lance from Johto, but he cancelled on me. I was thinking of going to Mossdeep earlier than I planned on and I wanted to see if you would like to come with me, since that's your next stop anyways."

"Yes, that sounds good! When are you leaving?" she asked.

"I'd like to leave within the hour. Does that work for you?"

Delaney thought for a moment. She'd have to go grab Sawyer and get their stuff together _very _quickly- but it was Steven Stone asking, so it was going to have to work. "That works!" she said.

"Excellent. Come up to my office when you're ready to leave, Delaney," he said and he hung up the call without saying goodbye.

Delaney just stared blankly at the now inactive Crosstransceiver. "I have no idea where that is…" she muttered to herself. She was just going to have to figure it out and get Sawyer on board as well. Fluffy was just going to have to deal.

* * *

**Author's Note (10/08/12): **Sooooo that's close to a week... A week and one day. (: My apologies for the extra day, I spent yesterday volunteering with Race for the Cure, baking cookies for a student organization bake sale and packing for my upcoming move this weekend.

Thanks as always to my wonderful friend and beta, **Noteleks**, as well as to you readers and reviewers that never cease to bring a smile to my face. You guys rock, seriously, and you don't know how frequently you make my day.

Chapter 8... Will be a bit, so please be patient with me. This week I have two midterms plus packing, plus more student organization stuff, plus work, plus working on a grant application for my research project and next week I will be preparing for two different presentations for the classes I don't have midterms in. So yeeesh... Busy. But chapter 8 will be here by the end of October at the latest.

Thanks for bearing with me everyone. I know I must be frustrating some of you (especially since the beginning of this story is heavy on set-up and not so much action- _that_ comes in the middle and does not let up) but I plan on continuing to chug along and I hope some of you will stay along for the ride. I might as well be wearing a big sign right now that says "please let me into grad school" with all of the extra stuff I've been doing, but _this_- writing- is for me and I'm not going anywhere, so don't think I've abandoned this story. (:

Again, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys soon! Keep checking back for updates or put this story and/or me on alert or you know, do what you do.

~DarkAngelTorchic


	9. 08: At Least It Was Here

_I spent an entire week in the Canalave library when it finally occurred to me that I should begin preparing to battle Byron and his steel pokemon. A man in the cafe where I got my coffee each morning told me that Byron and his gym trainers often took a ferry out to Iron Island to train and many challengers of the Canalave Gym found it beneficial to go out there as well. That was all it took to convince me to go out there. One of the sailors agreed to ferry me out there on a particularly gray afternoon._

_I went down to the mines immediately and began working with my pokemon to prepare them against Byron's behemoths- he had a reputation for being tough, you know. Hours went by and we trained against countless steelix and gravelers, but as far as people went, we didn't see another soul. It was just us, some hardcore training and the pokemon of the cave, at least until I heard footsteps descending down the ladder. Hazel, my gastrodon, was the pokemon that was out at the moment and she was prepared to protect me if need be, but it turned out, she didn't have to._

_All I could do was stare as he gained footing and let go of the ladder. He looked back at me, and deep blue eyes met violet, but neither one of us said a word. Instead, we just stood and stared at each other for a moment, until finally I opened my big mouth and asked "what the hell are you doing here?"_

_There's a moment for you. Everything that happened before or after is completely irrelevant compared to that one moment where the world was completely still and we just looked at each other. _

_It was the first time I had seen him since the day in Celestic Town, the day when he had gone from being a handsome stranger in the rain to Alex, who was quite possibly the worst person in the world for me. We had parted with a kiss. I ran. He asked if he could see me again and I told him that if he really wanted to, he would make it happen._

_And he did._

* * *

**Chapter 08: At Least It Was Here**

The waves were particularly strong for it being late afternoon as Sawyer and Delaney followed Steven across the extended beaches of Mossdeep City. The skeletons have houses being rebuilt made what was once a cozy little island town seem almost creepy, especially as the brand-new security center loomed in the background, all cold and steel and quite out of place.

Delaney found her eyes wandering from structure to structure and not so much where her feet were going up until her flip-flopped feet struck against a hard, sharp surface. "Ow!" she cried out. Her companions stopped to see what Delaney had managed to injure herself on. It took a small bit of digging before she had an answer. Half buried in the sand was a brilliant deep green gem, jagged and pointy. Her toe was bleeding slightly. "Oh wow," she said to herself, picking it up.

Steven grabbed it out of her hand and examined it closely. After a few seconds, he sighed and put it in his pocket. Sawyer and Delaney exchanged confused glances. The look on Steven's face was a far cry from his usual polite and cordial expression. "I'm sorry," Delaney said meekly. She wasn't sure how she had upset him, but it was clear that she had.

Arceus. She had upset Steven Stone. That was just _great._

It was a few seconds before Steven even seemed to register that Delaney had spoken. "Oh no, it's not you, Delaney. I… Don't worry about it. I'm sorry if I upset you." He then stopped to pick something else up out of the sand. "Finding them all over today," he muttered to himself. "Come on, we're almost to the Pokemon Center. Is your foot okay, Delaney?"

A bewildered Delaney could only nod. Sawyer, however, was not happy with Steven's answers. "What do you keep finding?" he asked curiously.

"My gems," Steven said simply.

"_Your _gems?" Delaney asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I collect rare stones," Steven explained.

"But why would they be here?" Sawyer asked.

"I live here," he said wistfully. "Or I did. My home was one of the ones destroyed in the storms, so I've been staying in the suites in Evergrande, same as you. I lost a lot of the stones that I kept here. Most of them I keep in the vaults but my favorite ones, I kept at home. I thought most of them were lost, but I've found two today. That's a good sign, I think."

"I didn't know he lived here," Delaney whispered to Sawyer as Steven pulled farther out ahead of them. "I guess I didn't think of him living anywhere other than Evergrande."

The cobalt-haired man began going up a staircase carved into the land. "The rest of the town is up here," he said, beckoning to the two younger trainers. "The Pokemon Center is at the top of the stairs. Let's get you two checked in and then I'll show you around the security center. It's technically closed, but Riley's already told his second-in-command we're coming."

Steven was already almost up the stairs by the time Delaney and Sawyer reached them. "Somehow, I can't imagine getting there and them not letting Steven Stone in the building," Sawyer said, raising his eyebrows at Delaney.

"Steven Stone defies normal operating hours," Delaney said wryly.

"Come on!" Steven called from the top of the stairs. "I'm going ahead on in to make reservations for the night!"

"How did he get up there so fast?" Sawyer said, breathing heavily. A bead of sweat fell from his brow.

"Okay, I'm not in bad shape, but seriously, my calves are not happy," Delaney said, stopping to rub her legs.

"That man is in ridiculously good shape for his age," Sawyer said, huffing and puffing.

"Let's get up there before he yells at us again," Delaney said, increasing her pace despite resistance from her burning legs.

"Well on the bright side, he would have a lovely career as a personal trainer if he decided to step down from being Champion," Sawyer said, though it fell upon deaf ears as Delaney had surpassed him and was nearly to the top.

Delaney herself had begun to sweat as she stood in front of the Pokemon Center doors, catching her breath. It had been quite a while since her days running around route 212 with her pokemon, or even since walking from city to city in Unova. Nowadays, much of their traveling was by flying.

Steven was quick to meet her with two keys in tow. "Where's Sawyer?" he asked.

"He's still coming," Delaney said. She took a deep breath and then looked up to smile at Steven. It was then that she noticed that he had two keys. "Thanks for making our reservations, Steven, but Sawyer and I usually share a room. You know, we've got the whole wonderful platonic-only kind of relationship going on."

"I'm staying here as well…"he said. "Don't look so surprised. I have the choices of either staying in the Pokemon Center or flying back to Evergrande for the night or then coming back to get you two tomorrow. I figured Sawyer would room with me, but since you've got such a wonderful platonic relationship, you can have him," he said teasingly.

"You can have him if you want him," Delaney said, raising her eyebrows. "He snores."

"Who snores?" Sawyer asked between pants, finally making it to the top of the stairs.

"Apparently you," Steven said. "Or so your very platonic roommate says."

"She lies," Sawyer stated. "It's actually Perry that snores."

"So loudly that you can hear him from inside his pokéball even," Delaney said sarcastically, nodding. "So odd that I never really noticed it until I met you."

"I do bring much enlightenment to your life," Sawyer nodded.

"Okay, now that you're up here, let's head to the security base," Steven said, abruptly changing the subject.

"Are there more stairs?" the auburn-haired boy asked.

"You're young, you can handle it," Steven said with a joking smirk. "It's literally a ten minute walk. Come on!" And with that, he began leading the way to the security base.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Delaney and Steven stood in poorly veiled amusement as Sawyer glared at them from the middle of yet another staircase. "You know, compared to most males my age and height, I have really short legs."

"Yeah, Sawyer, I understand," Delaney said with a smirk.

"Okay, whatever, Del. You know as well as I do that we fly everywhere now! It's been a long time since we walked the land!" he argued.

"We walked from Petalburg to Slateport," she reminded him.

"Okay, there was that part with the water where Perry had to take us across… And there were no stairs and you know, we were having a jolly good time and it was easy to forget we were walking the land…" Sawyer yammered. By the time he finished his string of rambling, he had made it to the top of the stairs.

"Are you trying to say that I'm _not _a jolly good time?" Steven asked, raising his eyebrows at Sawyer.

Sawyer swallowed hard. "Well, Champion Steven sir, you're quite swell indeed…" He paused and narrowed his eyes at Delaney, who wasn't even trying to conceal a torrent of laughter as she doubled over, face turning red. "You are _so_ mean to me," he muttered.

Steven just shook his head, laughing to himself. "You two are funny," he chuckled. He gestured to the steel building behind him. It was a lot more open than Delaney had realized- the front entrance was composed of a wall of spotless windows that showed off a large open lobby. There was a large service center in the middle of the lobby that was currently empty because regular hours were over. "This is the security base that Riley has set up here in Mossdeep. This used to be a space station, but it was damaged pretty badly in the storms and with all the other repairs scheduled for Mossdeep, space travel is a luxury that we can't really afford now, so we repaired the building and made it a security base." He glanced back at the building, a fond smile on his face. "Back when this was a space station, my protégé and I fought Team Magma here together. You remind me of her," he told Delaney. "Shall we go inside?"

"Sounds good," Delaney said. Steven grabbed a keycard out of his pocket and swiped it in a card swiper that almost perfectly blended into the gray steel, effectively hiding it.

"That was Riley's idea," Steven said, noticing Delaney's surprise. "He thought that making it blend into the building would be a good idea, to make it difficult for anyone to break in even if they were to get a keycard. That, of course, is highly unlikely itself, as only Riley, Anderson, Jackson, Atticus and I have them."

"Jackson?" Delaney asked. "Like the Lavaridge gym leader Jackson?"

"Yes, he and Atticus were voted into special security positions by the rest of the gym leaders. Riley wanted one or two of them to be involved with his plans."

"Who's Atticus?" Sawyer jumped in. "I don't think we've met him yet."

"The Lilycove gym leader," Steven explained, opening the door and holding it for Delaney and Sawyer. "A good personal friend of mine. We've known each other since childhood, actually."

"And I'm Anderson," a tall, muscular man in his late twenties or early thirties with platinum blonde hair said, approaching them with a friendly smile. "I figured that would be your next question."

"Anderson Gregory is Riley's second-in-command," Steven explained. "He's also the son of Atticus."

"I'm in charge of most of the day-to-day operations here," Anderson told them. "Basically any sort of emergency that local police can't handle, any back-up if they need it… And basically everything in places like Slateport or Sootopolis that are struggling."

"Is Sootopolis in the same sort of condition that Slateport is?" Delaney asked, worried. That was their stop for the next day.

"Not even," Anderson said. "They have an acting gym leader that's trying to take care of the rebuilding, but she's not having an easy time with it. Their police force is really small. A lot of them were let go after the attacks, because apparently there was a lot of corruption within their ranks- bought by Team Aqua, to be specific."

_"Bought_ by Team Aqua?" Delaney asked, scowling.

Steven nodded. "It was rather unfortunate. Relationships between local law enforcement and Team Aqua were set up by Wallace and his mentor, Juan. Juan took over Wallace's gym when he became Champion."

Anderson glanced at his watch. "How about that tour, ladies and gents? It's starting to get pretty late and I'd like to tuck my kids into bed, at the very least."

"Oh, of course!" Delaney said. "Sorry!"

"No worries, Miss Caldwell," he said. The group walked across the vast lobby and into an elevator on the far left wall. Anderson pushed the button for the basement level. "Most of the second and third level are executive offices and records rooms. Ideally, this place will be a security center for all of Hoenn someday with different branches and departments, but right now, we're all on kind of the same page and just getting things done to try and get Hoenn back up to speed. That's something I'm sure you all understand," he said, shooting the three a smile.

"What's down in the basement, then?" Sawyer asked, speaking for the first time since Anderson's arrival. He had been carefully checking out everything as they walked.

"Inventory, records on more delicate matters… A couple of high profile prisoners," he said. "We have guards down here 24/7 to make sure everything down here stays safe."

"Who would these high-profile prisoners be?" Sawyer asked, his green eyes widening.

"Wallace," Steven said shortly. "Archie Rhodos as well- the leader of Team Aqua."

"We're still actively looking for Team Magma's leader, Maxie," Anderson added quickly.

"The leader of Team Magma was never caught?" Delaney asked, her own eyes widening.

Steven shook his head. "Hence why we've all been so worried about a resurgence of Team Magma."

"Well with what Riley was talking about- Team Magma in Dewford Town… Do you think he's there?"

"We're hoping he's not, but it's very possible… That's why Riley didn't want you to go to Dewford yet. Maxie is very dangerous. I hope you never run into him," Steven said, shaking his head.

The four stepped off the elevator and began to head through the corridors of the basement. The hallways curved and twisted. There was virtually nothing on the walls to make any particular spot identifiable. "I bet it's easy to get lost down here," Sawyer mumbled to Delaney.

Delaney, though, was still thinking about the possibility of Team Magma being out there. What if their leader was rebuilding in Dewford? What if they were coming back?

Delaney didn't know if she could deal with that again.

* * *

The sun glinted off the crystal waters of Sootopolis as Grace, Delaney's altaria, and Steven's skarmory descended in front of the Pokemon Center. Sawyer was the first to climb off of Grace and he looked around Sootopolis in horror. "This whole town is stairs," he said, horrified.

Steven didn't even try to hide his laughter. "What did you expect? This is a crater formed from an underwater volcano."

"This place just gets better by the second," Sawyer muttered.

"The only place we're visiting is the gym," Steven assured him. "You see, down these stairs, surf across the water on a pokemon, bam, we're there. Not too bad, right? It should be a jolly good time."

"Aw, I didn't even bring Fluffy with me. He would've really enjoyed this," Sawyer said with a sigh.

"Who's Fluffy?" Steven asked, confused.

"Sawyer's gyarados. He's currently living in the pool," Delaney explained.

"That thing?!" Steven asked, a horrified look coming across his face. "That thing is yours and you named it, of all things, Fluffy?"

"Okay, first of all, I don't appreciate you referring to Fluffy as _that thing_, Champion Mr. Stone, sir." The auburn-haired boy looked quite offended. "And second, I don't appreciate you referring to him as some sort of monster. He has a big heart. You just can't see it behind all the fangs and stuff."

"He's very protective of the hot tub. Trust me, I learned that the hard way," Steven mumbled.

"Well, let's get this over with," Sawyer said, hurrying down the stairs like they would multiply if he wasn't fast.

"I hate that gyarados," Steven mumbled to Delaney. "I tried to have it released. Now I know why Brenna wouldn't do it." Delaney let out a small chuckle.

"Secrets don't make friends, slowpokes! Now come on! You're both in shape and what not, as you proved in Mossdeep while you were making fun of me, so hurry up!" the auburn-haired boy yelled behind him.

Delaney just continued to giggle to herself as she headed down the stairs to the edge of the water. "Perry, come on out," she called, tossing the samurott's pokéball into the shallow water.

The quadruped sea lion materialized before the three with a grin on his face. "You don't snore, do you?" Delaney muttered to him.

Sawyer rolled his eyes at her. "You think Perry could carry us both since Fluffy is apparently busy terrorizing the hot tub?"

"Yes, but as a rule, I generally don't think antagonizing Steven Stone is a good idea… You know, just for the record," Delaney said with a grin to her best friend as she gingerly climbed on Perry's back. Sawyer mimicked her careful motions and took a seat on the sea lion pokemon. "Are you okay, Perry? If Sawyer is too fat and you want him to get off, let me know."

"Hey!" the auburn-haired boy protested. "_You _are the one who's gained three pounds in the last three years. Don't put this on me!"

Delaney turned around and gave Sawyer a sharp look. "Oh Sawyer, you should know better than to try to discuss a woman's weight or age with her," Steven said with a chuckle, as a graceful milotic glided up next to them. Delaney stared in wonder at the majestic pokemon. "It's on loan from Cynthia. I'm taking care of her pokemon during this debacle so that they can't be used against her if something happens to her."

Something happening to Cynthia was not something Delaney really wanted to think about, despite her many misgivings with the woman, she could already tell that the conversation was about to turn somewhere Delaney didn't want it to. "You're awfully chatty these days, Steven," she teased, abruptly changing the subject. "Race you to the gym!"

Perry was no stranger to races and the sea lion pokemon took off before Steven even had a chance to process what in the hell had just happened. Unfortunately for Perry, though, the milotic greatly outclassed him in speed and before they knew it, the serpent pokemon had surpassed them and Steven stood in front of the Sootopolis Gym with a large grin on his face. "Sawyer, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Steven said with a chuckle.

Delaney looked back at her companion, who was white as a sheet with eyes wide. "You know, you should really warn people when you decide to hold impromptu races," Sawyer muttered.

"There are so many contradictions in that sentence, Sawyer. Lighten up!" she said, climbing off of Perry's back and extending her hand to help Sawyer off as well. As soon as her auburn-haired companion was on land, she recalled the sea lion pokemon with a smile and the three began to head for the gym doors. Steven grabbed the handle and held it open for his younger companions, but as soon as Delaney was about to head through the doorway, her Crosstransceiver began ringing. She reached into her bag and glanced at the screen. "I'm so sorry, guys. Go ahead on in without me, I'll be just a minute," she promised. Sawyer and Steven exchanged a look and shrugged at each other and proceeded to enter the Sootopolis Gym, leaving Delaney standing outside by herself.

She answered the call with a smile on her face. "Two days in a row? Aren't I a lucky girl?"

The grinning face of Nate was looking back at her. "Well you're certainly looking much more smiley today, Miss Delaney. It suits you."

"It's a better day," she said with a shrug. "What can I help you with, Nick?"

"I'm glad. Pretty girls should never frown like you were yesterday," he said and Delaney felt a blush come to her cheeks. "But anyways, I was just calling around to everyone to remind them of the meeting in the morning. You're still coming, aren't you?"

"As long as I'm done with my work by morning, you can count on it," she promised.

"And you mentioned a friend potentially coming with as well, right?" he asked.

"I still haven't really broached the topic to him yet…" she said, biting her lip. "But I really think he'll go."

"Well I'll see you even if he says no, right?" His gray eyes seemed a bit concerned.

"Yeah, I just need to finish up in Sootopolis and I should be good to go with or without Sawyer," she said.

"Sootopolis?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's where most of all the action went down with Team Magma and Team Aqua, right?"

"So I've heard," she said, glancing around. "It's still pretty brutal around here, but I've seen worse. Steven said the gym leader here is at least _trying_… So there's a plus. I'm thinking I'll be done by nightfall," she said.

"Well I should let you go then," Nick said. "Because as much as I'm enjoying talking to you now, I definitely would rather let you go so I can see you in person tomorrow."

"That's probably a good idea… Steven and Sawyer and the gym leader are waiting for me inside, but I guess I just really wanted to talk to you, even for just a minute," she said, the blush on her cheeks deepening a bit.

"We can't keep Champion Steven Stone waiting for too long," Nick said, unexpected sarcasm tinting his words. "But I'm glad I got to talk to you too. I find something new to like about you each time I get the pleasure." And just like that, the slight darkness in his words vanished, replaced by his usual cocky flirtatiousness.

"You're too good," Delaney said with a chuckle, shaking her head. "But yeah, I really should get back in there. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Bye beautiful," he said and just like that, his face was gone.

Delaney knew she was still bright red from the conversation with Nick as she walked through the doors of Sootopolis Gym. Steven and Sawyer were standing with a pretty girl in her late teens with chestnut brown hair and bright blue eyes, a kind smile seemed permanently fixated on her face. Steven raised his eyebrow and chuckled slightly at her crimson cheeks. Sawyer didn't seem nearly as amused, but he didn't say anything. "Hi Delaney, it's really nice to finally meet you!" she said, extending a gloved hand to her.

"Delaney, meet May Hawthorne," Steven said, smiling at the brunette standing in front of Delaney.

"Nice to meet you as well, May," Delaney said, shaking her hand. Seeing as how the last gym leader she had met had been the unpleasant Jackson, May's smile was especially nice. Though she had just met the girl, Delaney felt an unusual kinship with her. Something in those blue eyes seemed way too familiar.

"What do you think of Sootopolis so far? It's really lovely, right?" May asked. "The way the sun hits the water… It's like none other. Of course, it was a lot prettier the first time I came here, before the storms, but it'll get back to being that way… Some day."

"I've never seen anywhere quite like this place before," Delaney said, glancing out the windows of the gym. Unlike most gyms Delaney had been to throughout the course of her life, where the personality of the gym leader (or former gym leader, in the case of some gyms in Hoenn thus far) shone through clearly, the Sootopolis gym had no trace of a leader, or even a type specialty. Anything that had the mark of the previous gym leader had been painstakingly removed. The vast room that they stood in had beige walls and beige flooring. It was like no one had ever inhabited it. "Are you from Sootopolis?"

"Oh no," May laughed. "I'm actually from Goldenrod in Johto, but my family moved to Littleroot awhile back so that my father could take a gym leader position in Petalburg."

"Petalburg… That's Norman, right? Norman's your father?" Delaney asked, a bit surprised as she thought back to the uber serious dark-haired man that ran the gym there. Now that she thought about it though, she did remember him mentioning a daughter who had made it into the Hall of Fame for beating Steven. Apparently that was the brunette with the sparkling blue eyes that stood in front of Delaney now, who was clearly much stronger than Delaney realized- stronger than Steven even.

"Yeah… I never really wanted to do the whole gym leader thing, which disappointed him, but he's lucky that he has such a good apprentice in Brendan. Dad always did want a son," she said with a slight chuckle. "I'm more into traveling and meeting people. I was getting ready to go to Sinnoh when this all happened, but you know what happened there…" Oh Delaney knew alright. "So instead I decided to help with the rebuilding!"

"With all that happened with Wallace, I needed someone I could trust to run this gym," Steven said, looking down at May fondly. "There was nobody better suited for the job."

"Oh I'm not really so good at it," May shyly admitted. "But I'm really lucky that Steven has been so awesome with helping me."

"I bet it's difficult," Sawyer said, finally speaking up. "I mean, this is like a whole city of stairs!"

"It's difficult, but it's so worth it," May said. The prideful glances that Steven shot the younger girl made Delaney think back to their conversation the night before. _Back when this was a space station, my protégé and I fought Team Magma here. You remind me of her. _May Hawthorne- was this the girl that Steven had been referring to? But if it was, this meant that May was the one who had fought Team Magma. Maybe _that_ was why Delaney felt such kinship with her- they had both been forced to take on way too much responsibility with problems that shouldn't have been handed over to them at such a young age.

"Delaney, you really don't have to go through the same drill that you went through with all the other gym leaders," Steven said, cutting right through her thoughts. "I've been pretty active in helping May out, so I know exactly what the progress of rebuilding is here. I just thought it would be a good idea for you to come out here and see things for yourself."

"And I really wanted to meet Delaney Caldwell," May cut in with a smile. "It didn't surprise me a bit when Steven said that he wanted you for the Elite Four. I remember watching your battle with Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four on television a few years ago, and you're just an incredible trainer. Part of why I wanted to go to Sinnoh was so I could meet you and maybe battle you!"

Delaney had to admit, she didn't remember _any_ of her battle with Flint- she had walked around in such a daze after the Spear Pillar that most of what should've been the most exciting part of her journey was a complete blur. "I'm flattered," Delaney said, a blush coming to her face again. When had she turned into the kind of person that blushed so easily? "I'm going to hold you to that battle, by the way. You have to seriously be tough to beat Steven."

"Oh, you've heard that story," May said. Now she was turning crimson. "My dad probably told it to you, didn't he?"

Delaney nodded. "He talked about you a lot. I just didn't put two and two together at first."

"I'm very glad that you got the opportunity to meet May," Steven said, smiling at them both. "You're both excellent trainers. I'm sure any battle between the two of you would definitely not be boring."

"That would just be awesome," May said with a grin. "What do you all have planned for the day?"

"I actually just planned to spend the day here… I guess I thought this was going to take awhile like it did with the other gyms," Delaney said.

"Why don't you head off to Lilycove, Delaney? You could spend some time there today and speak to Atticus tomorrow? He's really the only one you have left to talk to until Riley says that Dewford is safe," Steven said with a nod.

"What's wrong with Dewford?" May asked. "Is everything okay with Brawley?"

"There's been some gang activity there… Team Magma, to be specific," Steven said, pursing his lips.

May frowned. "I guess this could only be expected since we never could find Maxie… If they need help there, let me know."

"Your Team Magma chasing days are over," Steven said, raising his eyebrows. "Why don't you let Riley take care of it and just focus on Sootopolis?"

"Because that's not who I am," May said pointedly. "I'm fighting Team Magma until they're gone for good."

Delaney suddenly found it hard to swallow. "Uh… So Lilycove? Is it easy to find?"

"Oh goodness yes!" May exclaimed. "It's northwest of here and you can't miss it. It's one of the biggest cities in Hoenn!"

"It's a really lovely place, Delaney," Steven said with a kind smile. "Take some time there and relax. Wait until tomorrow evening to go see Atticus and just take some time for you. You've been working really hard."

Not speaking to Atticus until the following evening gave her plenty of time to go to The Nascence meeting in the morning. "That sounds like a really good idea. Thanks, Steven."

"Are you ready to head for Lilycove then?" Sawyer asked. He had been unusually quiet during the meeting with May.

"Yeah, I'm ready if you are, Sawyer," Delaney said. The two said their goodbyes to Steven and May and headed out the gym doors into the sunny afternoon of Sootopolis.

"So…" Sawyer said as he grabbed a pokéball from his bag. "Who was it that called? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Delaney said, grabbing a pokéball from her own bag and tossing it out. "It was um, Nick."

"Like the guy in the cult Nick?" Sawyer asked as he released his noctowl, Busby.

"Sawyer, he's not in a cult," Delaney said with a sigh. "…Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Whenever you ask me if you can ask me something, it's usually not something I like, but go ahead and go for it," he said.

"Well…" Delaney began, biting her lower lip. "The Nascence has a meeting tomorrow and I'd really like to go and… Well, I guess I wanted to know if you'd go with me? You don't have to, of course, but I'd really like for you to go."

"Del, why are you getting involved in this exactly? Is this about just liking that guy? Because judging by the way that he was looking at you, I'm sure he'd date you with or without you being involved in this thing." Busby the noctowl landed on Sawyer's shoulder and the two just looked at Delaney, waiting for an answer.

"This doesn't have anything to do with Nick," Delaney began slowly. "I mean, he's great… Really great. But this has more to do with the fact that I just want to feel like I'm doing something for Unova and Sinnoh, Sawyer. I know you said I can't save everybody at once, but… I just feel really useless. I'm not going to join as like, a member, but I want to help them collect supplies or help people who escaped into Hoenn."

Sawyer was quiet for a moment. "This really means a lot to you, doesn't it?"

Delaney nodded. "Sawyer, I can't ever go back there… But this is a way I can help without having to. This is really all I can do."

The auburn-haired boy sighed. "If it would make you happy, then I'll go with you. Just to see what it's about, but if they have us sacrificing a small pokemon or chanting or some shit, we're leaving."

Delaney wrapped him in a huge hug. "You're the best friend ever, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know…" Sawyer said with a rueful grin. "Let's head off to Lilycove."

* * *

The next morning, a rain-soaked brunette with slight make-up tracks on her face and her equally drenched auburn-haired best friend trudged through the mud up to the tree where The Nascence held their meetings. The brunette scrunched her nose in irritation and desperately tried to fix the make-up that she had so carefully put on that morning. "You know how we were saying yesterday that we don't usually walk anymore? I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that, Sawyer."

The glaring auburn-haired boy nodded. "It was really nice of the new nurse on duty in Fortree to let us stay in the back room since there were no patients, but do you think she could've warned us that there was going to be rain today?"

"And not just rain, but a storm," Delaney grumbled. "I wasted _so_ much time getting ready, only for it all to be ruined."

"Yeah whatever, that cult guy will still think you're gorgeous, don't fret," Sawyer said with a roll of his eyes.

"Sawyer, this is _not_ a cult," Delaney said as they finally reached the familiar foliage that covered the cleverly disguised door to The Nascence hideout. "Please at least give this a chance? For me?"

"For you," Sawyer said with a sigh. Delaney smiled back at him as she knocked on the door. Within a few moments, the frowning face of a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and catlike facial features greeted them. Ren was her name- the girl who had called her out and more or less humiliated her at the last meeting.

"Oh you're back," she said, sounding disappointed. "…And you've brought a friend. Great." She stepped aside for Delaney and Sawyer to come in without a greeting or any sort of welcome.

"Well she's apparently not a member of the Delaney Caldwell Fan Club," Sawyer said, clearly surprised.

Delaney didn't respond. She didn't really want to think about Ren's cold attitude from the previous meeting.

As they cautiously stepped in, other members who were talking amongst themselves looked up to greet them. The table of members that were already there consisted of Jody, the peppy trainer from Petalburg, the old man and the dark-haired young girl with the braid whose names Delaney had never caught and the handsome young man with the scar- Cam, Delaney was thinking his name was. Jody in particular had a bright smile on her face. "Oh my goodness, I was so worried that you were never coming back!" she said. Her kind words after the cold greeting from Ren made Delaney feel particularly nice.

"Glad to know we didn't scare you off," the old man said, a kind smile on his face. "I don't believe we were formally introduced last time, but I'm Percy. Nice to meet you, young lady," he said, extending a hand for her to shake.

"It's nice to meet you too," Delaney said, a bit relieved at the kindness of the other members.

"Oh, and I'm Kirari!" popped in the girl with the shimmering dark braid. "I know who you are, but I don't think a lot of us actually got to meet you last time, so it's nice to actually meet you!" She jerked a thumb towards the young man next to her. "And this is Cam. I don't know if you met him at the last meeting, but he doesn't talk much so I doubt it."

Delaney shook hands with both of them. "Nice to meet you both. Are you from Hoenn or…?"

"I'm from Johto," Kirari said. "But I have… friends in Unova. Or really, just one friend." The bright smile on her face faded for a moment.

"I lived in Unova for thirty-eight years before Cyrus came around," Percy said. "My wife, children and grandchildren are all still there in Icirrus. I will do whatever it takes to get back there to them."

"Icirrus, like where Dragonspiral Tower is?" Jody asked. "That's where Galactic and Plasma officially announced their takeover, right?"

_Let this day be remembered everywhere as the day that Team Plasma liberated the land of Unova from the cruel trainers who insisted on enslaving pokemon! Lord N, go to the Pokemon League and let your power be known by all!_

Delaney swallowed hard. Sawyer shot a sharp look at her. "Hey, are you okay?"

_We share many of the same… ideals. It didn't take us long to realize that a partnership would be highly beneficial to both of us._

"Oh my goodness, Delaney, I'm sorry," Jody said quickly. "I didn't mean… Um, hey, is this your friend? I'm Jody!"

Sawyer awkwardly shook the hand of the bright-eyed girl with emerald hair. "Sawyer Hale, nice to meet you," he said, glancing around at everyone.

After an awkward silence that seemed to last forever, finally Nick in yet another polo shirt (this one maroon) and cargo shorts and Malonie in a pair of tight black pants, a plain black t-shirt and the same mud-splattered boots as before walked in. Malonie went immediately to Ren, who was in the corner hunched over a piece of paper, while Nick joined the group. He gave a cheerful hello to everyone and then wrapped Delaney in a hug. "I'm really glad to see you," he said with his usual cheerful smile. He then turned to Sawyer. "Nice to see you again! We weren't formally introduced in Mauville, but I figured you were the best friend Delaney was referring to."

"I'm Sawyer," the auburn-haired boy said, offering Nick an obviously forced smile.

Luckily, before things got too much more awkward, Malonie's voice rang throughout the base. "Okay guys, are we ready to begin? The sooner we can get out of here, the better! The storm is only supposed to get worse!"

"Lovely," Delaney muttered. She, Nick and Sawyer took seats together at the emptier end of the table. As they were milling about preparing to get started, a tallish girl with a blue beret resting on top of her unruly chestnut hair and olive eyes rushed in and took the empty seat across the table from Sawyer. The girl glanced at Delaney, but otherwise cared nothing about the people around her. She was focused on Malonie and ready to begin. Delaney had to admit, she was curious. Why hadn't she seen her at the last meeting? Was she new?

"Okay guys, let's get this going so that nobody gets caught in the storm, because it's apparently heading this way," Malonie said. "Let's start with supplies going to Sinnoh and Unova. Who's been taking care of that?"

"I made a drop-off of two boxes earlier this week," Nick said, glancing around the room. "And I met with the head of the Contest Hall in Lilycove who's agreed to a significant monetary donation. I'm supposed to meet with him again this afternoon to officially get the check"

"Oh Nick, that's awesome!" Jody cheered.

"Excellent, brother," Malonie said with a nod.

"The Pokemon Center in Fallabor agreed to donate some medical supplies, for both people and pokemon," the curly haired girl across from Sawyer spoke up. "I recognize that not many have them in Unova or Sinnoh, but seeing as how we're attempting to help with resistance efforts, those who haven't yet had their pokemon taken away by either Galactic or Plasma should be able to benefit."

"Do you know how much, Lauren?" Nick asked.

"I believe they agreed to part with three boxes of supplies for people and two for pokemon," Lauren said with a curt nod.

"Awesome… I know they really need the help," Nick said with a smile.

"You know, I guess this isn't too bad," Sawyer whispered to Delaney, his eyebrows raised.

Delaney smiled in agreement and nodded. "Something to say, Miss Caldwell?" Malonie asked, narrowing her gaze.

Caught off-guard, Delaney turned crimson. "What else do we need?" she asked, thinking quickly. "I know there's a consistent need for everything, but is there something they need that nobody is really taken care of?"

"Only people to fight off Team Galactic and Plasma, but we can't really count on you to help with that," Ren said with a bored tone of voice. Next to Delaney, she could practically hear Sawyer's jaw drop. However, it was not her companion that spoke up, but the boy on the other side of her.

"Was that really called for, Ren?" Nick asked, his jaw clenched and an angry look on his face that Delaney had never seen before. "Delaney came here because she wants to help however she can. That was pretty rude to say to someone that's just trying to help."

"Enough, Nick," Malonie said, pursing her lips. "You can fight with Ren over your darling Delaney after the meeting, but I'll be damned if I get caught in that storm because of this." She turned her angry gaze to Delaney. "As far as donations go, food, clothing, medical supplies and money are always welcome, because it will be a long time before there's no longer a shortage of any of those things in either Sinnoh or Unova. As far as clothing goes, we're getting a lot in terms of coats and daily wear, but we're not getting a ton of undergarments or socks and small things like that, so if you can get your hands on some, that would be greatly appreciated." She glanced around the room. "Okay, is that it for donations?" Nobody spoke. "Okay, anything else can wait for the next meeting. Refuges? Anybody helping with refuges? Cam, I know you've been particularly great about helping out with people. Any news?"

"I've just been working with Atticus on a daily basis to make sure people are getting the help they need," Cam's deep voice rang out. "Getting people signed up with the Pokemon Center if they're trainers, getting them into some housing if they're not… You know, the normal."

"How many?" Malonie asked sharply.

"Not as many as usual. Seems like security to get out is getting tougher to get around," Cam said.

"Very well," Malonie said, again pursing her lips. "Before we adjourn, I'd like to warn you all of a problem I encountered this week. I was on my way to the food bank we have connections with in Lilycove and a man in a red hooded sweatshirt took the bag I was carrying. Luckily, it didn't contain much but… Be careful."

"Red hooded sweatshirt?" Delaney blurted again. "Like Team Magma?"

"It appeared to be, but I'm not certain," Malonie said. "Do you know anything about Team Magma? Seeing as how you're not from here, I mean."

"I know their leader was never captured," Delaney said, raising her eyebrows.

"He better hope to Arceus I don't get my hands on him," the curly-haired girl across the table said, clenching her jaw.

"Are you trying to say they're coming back?" Malonie asked, ignoring Lauren's angry outburst.

"I'm not saying anything other than the fact that their leader is still out there," Delaney said, looking up at Malonie with a steely gaze.

"…Very well," Malonie said. "Does anybody else have anything important to say? As in more important than getting home and away from this storm?" Nobody spoke, all in fear of angering the burgundy-haired girl in front of them. "Perfect, adjourned." And with that, she stalked off, clearly over the meeting.

Most also leapt up from their seats, eager to leave what had been a fairly tense and awkward meeting. Only Nick stayed seated. "Delaney, I'm so sorry," Nick said, shooting her a troubled look. "I wish I didn't have to keep apologizing for the things that people said here. I don't blame you if you don't want to come back after today."

Sawyer opened his mouth to reply, but Delaney answered before he could say anything. "I'm coming back," she said, surprising both of the guys, as well as herself. "I don't care who doesn't like me, I want to help."

"Del, we should really go," Sawyer said. "You know, storm and hostile people and all…"

Before Delaney could even respond, a dripping wet burgundy-haired girl stomped angrily back into the room. "Apparently the worst part of the storm is hitting now," she said angrily. "The water is so bad that it's impossible to even navigate the water to get over to Mauville by surfing. We might as well just stay here."

"…And so much for that," Sawyer said with a sigh. "I think I'm going to go talk to some of the people who are least likely to eat my soul. The old man seemed very nice." And with that, Sawyer made his way to where Percy and Cam were sitting and talking. The older gentleman welcomed the auburn-haired boy with a smile.

"Subtlety is not his strong point, is it?" Nick asked with a chuckle.

"Subtlety is not even a word that's in Sawyer's vocabulary," Delaney said with a nod. "I'm glad he went off to try and talk to people though. Hell, I'm glad he even came with me today."

"Not like we did much to really convince him that we're not so bad," Nick grimaced. "Arceus, Ren is usually pretty intense but I've never seen her be so hostile."

"I have that effect on people," Delaney shrugged.

Nick grinned and grabbed her hand from where it laid on the table. "Not on me," he said. "I think you're pretty much the opposite of anger-inducing."

"That may be the nicest thing anybody's said to me lately," Delaney said dryly. "Much appreciated."

"Has it been a rough week?" Nick asked. "Is that why you looked so upset the other day?"

"It's been pretty rough," Delaney admitted. "It didn't start out well and then it kind of went downhill from there."

"Why don't you tell me about it?" he said softly, squeezing her hand. "Maybe you'll feel better if you talk about it."

"Don't worry about it," Delaney said. "I don't want to be a burden."

"Arceus, Del, if you were a burden, I wouldn't have asked," he said with a smile. "Now come on, I really want to know."

"Well, one of the new gym leaders is from Sinnoh and he had some… very opinionated statements that aren't too far off from what Ren said," she began. "Then I went back to Evergrande for a meeting with the Elite Four and I guess I was kind of sensitive from my meeting with Jackson and I took something that was said kind of hard and there was this big fight between us and I just kind of walked out and I just can't get away from what happened at Dragonspiral and Alex and…"

"Who's Alex?" Nick said.

If there was one thing Delaney was _not_ getting into, it was definitely him. "He's… Nothing. Sorry, I started rambling."

"Obviously whoever he was, he was important to you." Nick's gray eyes were just a little too curious for her liking. "Is Alex your boyfriend? Or was he?"

"He was," Delaney snapped. "I don't want to talk about him."

"Woah woah woah," Nick said, clearly surprised at the bitterness that had entered her voice. "I'm sorry. Clearly a bad break-up there." That last bit is easily the least charming thing he's ever said. It seems as though he really slipped up there.

"It… Can you please just forget it? I'm sorry, I didn't even mean to bring it up," she said, biting her lower lip. "I really try not to think about it."

"I'm sorry for pushing it," he said, squeezing her hand. "He obviously meant a lot to you, otherwise you wouldn't get so upset. Whatever happened though, he's really missing out on someone great."

_Come to Unova. Find me._

"It's more complicated than that," she said after a long silence.

"Well I'm here if you want to talk about it. About anything," he said with a kind smile.

"You're really great, you know that?" she said, squeezing his hand for the first time.

"So are you, Delaney. You just need to stop giving other people the power to take away that pretty smile." Up to that point, Malonie had been peering out the door with fervor every couple of minutes. Finally, a smile came to her face.

"You guys, the storm hasn't passed completely, but it's lightening up. I think your pokémon should be able to fly out of here now!" she said excitedly, a far cry from the angry young woman who had spent most of her time over the course of the last two meetings glaring.

"What about surfing?" Jody called. "Do you think Route 118 is any better?"

"Let's go see!" Malonie said as she jetted out the door. Jody and then Lauren followed her out.

There was a silence between Nick and Delaney, but not an awkward one. As everyone else mulled over staying or going, the two just continued to sit at the table, hands intertwined. "Well aren't you two just precious," a voice behind them said with a chuckle. Delaney turned back to see the girl with the dark braided hair, Kirari, grinning down at them.

"We're not-" Delaney started.

"Mmhmm, _suuuuuure_," Kirari said with an impish grin.

"Unfortunately, I'm not so lucky," Nick said, withdrawing his hand from Delaney's. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "And I really need to go collect that check in Lilycove. I'll see you lovely ladies later." He bent down and to Delaney's surprise, gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and then walked off.

"Those white shoes are going to be ruined by the mud," Kirari observed as he walked away. "And Arceus is that boy smitten. Sorry that I interrupted you two."

"No worries, you weren't interrupting anything," Delaney said with a grin. She grabbed her Crosstransceiver out of her bag and was surprised to see it was later than she had thought. "Unfortunately I need to get going too. I need to go and see Atticus."

"Okay!" Kirari said with a kind smile. "Hey, I know some people are kind of cold to you here, but let me know if you need any help collecting donations or well… Any help with anything. I could give you my Crosstransceiver number if you want."

"Thanks, that would be great!" Delaney said, touched by the girl's kindheartedness. She handed her the Crosstransceiver. "You can go ahead and put it in there. I need to go let Sawyer know that we need to go."

To her surprise, the trio of men had been joined by Ren, who was still hunched over the paper she had been earlier, but she was now talking animatedly as well. "Hey Sawyer? We need to get going so I can meet with Atticus."

"Do you mind if I just meet you there in awhile?" Sawyer asked, surprising Delaney immensely. "Did you know Ren is making an outline of the Plasma Castle so that it can eventually be infiltrated?"

"They have a _castle?_" Delaney asked, her eyes wide._ "_Were you part of the Unovan resistance?" Delaney asked, careful to keep a calm and even tone as to not provoke the girl, though she was curious as to why she was so knowledgeable about the base of Team Plasma.

"I was a part of Team Plasma," Ren said, a blank look on her face.

Despite how neutral she was trying to be, Delaney couldn't hide her surprise. "Yeah, I get that reaction a lot," the blonde girl said.

"Why did you choose to leave?" she asked. She knew that she had to get to Lilycove, but it could wait a moment, right?

"I didn't." Her dark brown, almost black eyes, narrowed. "Ghetsis had me beat almost to death for letting a couple kids escape. I couldn't stop them- they were too strong. His serperior took down Krookadile in almost no time at all."

"Serperior?" Delaney asked. "Isn't that the evolved form of servine?"

"Yes," Percy said, nodding, a look of confusion in his eyes.

"That had to have been Cheren," Delaney said, her mind wandering to the dark-haired boy that had saved her life at Dragonspiral, even though they had never really gotten along before. And if there was someone with Cheren, that could only mean one thing. "Was one of the people with him a blonde girl?"

"Chirpy annoying little girl in orange," Ren said dully. "Sure thing."

"Bianca…" Delaney said wistfully. Even though they had driven her crazy back in Unova, she still hated that they were stuck there.

"Is that the girl that helped me carry you to Mistralton?" Sawyer asked.

"The very same," Delaney said with a chuckle.

"Here you go, Delaney!" Kirari said, handing Delaney her Crosstransceiver. The brunette glanced at the time.

"I really do need to get going…" she muttered. "Sawyer, I'll get us a room at the Pokemon Center. See you there, okay?"

"See ya, Del. Have fun with the gym leader," he said.

"Good to see you all again," Delaney said, waving goodbye to everyone. With that, the brunette left.

Ren turned back to her drawing. "Okay, so really, this is the primary wing of the castle that's used, so if it can be captured, we can handle anything…"

* * *

The talk of the evening had turned from battle strategy to stories about home, about family, about life and Sawyer had to admit, he was glad he had come to the meeting and met some of these people. Despite being somewhat of a bitch, Ren's high level of intelligence and her dark sarcasm intrigued Sawyer (though if they were going to be friends, her treatment of Delaney was going to have to change) and Percy was one of the most interesting people Sawyer had ever met. Even quiet Cam who was blind in one eye had a story to tell, and all of it was definitely swaying Sawyer into thinking that maybe he had overreacted about The Nascence.

After all, they were helping people. What was so wrong about that?

After registering Cam, Ren and Percy in his Crosstransceiver and saying his goodbyes, Sawyer finally opted to head off to Lilycove. Delaney had left hours ago and was more than likely either done with talking to the gym leader or close to being done. Dusk was turning into night- he had been sitting around talking for much longer than he anticipated. Thankfully, the rain had stopped so even though it was humid, it would be no problem for Busby to fly him to Lilycove.

Two figures came into view as he walked slightly to the east, away from the trees. The maroon polo of the person facing away from him gave away the fact that was clearly Nick and the girl facing him he recognized as the burgundy-haired girl that had run the meeting, though he had no idea what her name was.

Though saying he wasn't fond of Nick was a bit of an understatement, Sawyer decided to take the high route and say goodbye to him anyways. After all, with Delaney's firm statement of loyalty to The Nascence, despite how rudely she had been treated, he figured that Nick was not going away any time soon (though Sawyer really wanted him to). It was the high road, right? Sawyer being the better man?

As he approached the duo, though, he realized that all was not good and happy and actually, this burgundy-haired girl was quite pissed about something. Yeesh, not something he wanted to deal with. He reached for Busby's pokéball and was about to call out the noctowl when he heard the girl's voice raise several octaves. "I don't care about what you're trying to accomplish with this Caldwell girl, she _needs to go_."

Sawyer stopped dead in his tracks. "You're being completely unreasonable," Nick said evenly.

"No, _you_ are just being fucking ridiculous!" she yelled. "We can't sacrifice everything we've worked so hard for so that you can get laid, you understand? _I refuse to let you get in my way_."

"First of all, will you calm down and stop yelling? Somebody is going to hear us," Nick said, clearly growing irritated. "And for your information, this is not about getting laid- though that would be a sweet bonus. Are you so threatened by this girl that you're willing to ignore all of the potential benefits of having a member of the Elite Four on our side? This could be the break we've been waiting for. We could really take things to the next level here."

"Do you also want to run the risk of pissing her off and making an enemy out of her?" Malonie hissed. "You know the connections she has. She could ruin us if she wanted to."

"Why would she want to?" Nick asked. "Oh yeah, I know why- because you and Ren are being a couple of regular assholes whenever she's around. I know the tendency for women is to really bring out the claws when another female is involved, but if you want to keep on her good side, you'd better knock off the glaring and snide comments."

"You better hope this risk you're taking pays off," the angry burgundy-haired girl said. "If it doesn't, you will pay for it. I'll make sure of it." And with that, Malonie stalked off back to the base, with Nick following closely behind. As soon as they were both gone, a wide-eyed Sawyer released Busby and instructed her to head east to Lilycove, the feeling that things were not as they seemed returning to the pit in his stomach.

* * *

**Author's Note (11/02/12): **Well this is... close to the end of October? I actually had this done at the beginning of the week, but my beta has been sick so posting got delayed by a couple days... Though my beta rocks, so it's no big deal. Thanks as always to my wonderful friend and beta **Noteleks**.

Oooh, and we got some OC's this chapter too. Thanks to **M****addiepink5** for Kirari and **Tyltalis** for Lauren, both of whom will come into play later on in the story.

I'm going to try and keep this author's note brief, since you just had a giant behemoth of a chapter to read, but just a couple notes as far as my updating schedule is concerned: you will not have to wait long for the next chapter at all. In fact, after I post this, I will be beginning chapter 9 immediately. My crazy schedule has gotten slightly less crazy for the next couple weeks (providing chaos in the real world doesn't take the place of my chaotic schedule) as my research grant application is done and turned in and now I have nothing to do but wait. In this time I'm also going to try and do some stockpiling, but we'll see.

A gigantic thank you to those of you who read and/or review this story- you are really _soooooooo_ appreciated, you have no idea. I'm pretty sure I'm running solely on Diet Pepsi and kind words and thoughts right now, so I think it's pretty fair to say you guys definitely keep me going. I could go on and on about how grateful I am to you all for your time and focus and whatnot, but then this author's note would be as ridiculously long as this chapter and I don't know if you guys would want that.

See you next week everyone!

~DAT


	10. 09: Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean

_My life has always been predictable. Ridiculously predictable. Well, with some notable exceptions. I didn't expect to meet Alex, nor did I expect for things with him to turn out how they did. I didn't expect for Cyrus and his crew to break out of jail, and then team up with Ghetsis and Team Plasma. I didn't really expect to end up in Unova. I didn't expect to end up as an Elite Four member of Hoenn either._

_But still, even in the unpredictability, there was routine. There was the traveling from city to city, there was the camping, the Pokemon Centers, the friends. There was Dax back in Sinnoh, Sawyer in Unova. Even in Johto, there was the consistency of my room in the Pokemon Center of Ecruteak, the occasional training of my pokemon in the mountain nearby (well, when I could convince myself to leave the room), but mostly, the silence._

_However, if you had told me that this week, I would witness the beginning of the resurgence of Team Magma, freak out at an Elite Four meeting, be humiliated at a Nascence meeting and also be pretty harshly insulted by a couple gym leaders, I don't think I would've believed you. It's been an... interesting week, to say the least. _

* * *

**Chapter 09: Six Days at the Bottom of the Ocean**

Evening had given way to night by the time Sawyer landed in Lilycove City. Busby had brought him to the front doors of the Pokemon Center and he gave her his thanks before he went inside to the reception area and asked for Delaney Caldwell's room. The nurse on duty, a middle-aged woman who looked more than slightly bored with her job, informed him that there was nobody at the Lilycove Pokemon Center by that name, meaning Delaney had just gone straight to the gym. After asking for directions, that's where Sawyer was headed as well, and he arrived in about five minutes.

The "gym", if you could really call it that, was clearly a house that had been abandoned after the storms by the previous owner. It was not even a luxurious house (well, not compared to some of the more exquisite structures that Sawyer had seen as he flew above the city), a two-story pile of brick and cement with an "official Pokemon gym" sign stuck in front of it, with the name Dr. Atticus Gregory prominently displayed. To Sawyer, it looked more like a library than a gym, and as he stepped inside, this was only reaffirmed.

The first floor was mainly one large room, with the door to either a bathroom or closet nearly hidden off to one side. A kitchenette was carelessly set-up in a corner, though it looked like it had rarely been used. The main attraction of this "gym" was the piles and piles of books and paper all over, making the place appear that some sort of knowledge hurricane had ravaged it. It was behind one particularly large stack of books that Sawyer found a desk that was occupied by a man in his thirties with sable hair and green eyes hidden by square-framed glasses who was gesturing to something on his desk. Standing over him was, of course, Delaney, who seemed to be immersed in what he was saying. Sawyer was waiting for them to finish their discussion before he made his presence known, but alas, the pile of books he knocked into did not seem to have the same idea and they fell to the floor with a crash.

Delaney and the man she was talking to, who Sawyer assumed to be Dr. Atticus Gregory as stated by the sign, looked up with a wide-eyed, startled look, though when Delaney noticed who had made the noise, her face gave way to a smile. "Sawyer!" she chirped happily. She turned to the man at the desk. "Dr. Gregory, this is the friend I was talking about. This is Sawyer Hale. Sawyer, this is Dr. Gregory."

Dr. Gregory chuckled. "Delaney, I do insist you call me Atticus," he said, shaking his head. He got up from the desk and met Sawyer where he stood by the pile of fallen books.

"I'm sorry," was all Sawyer could think to say.

"Don't worry about it!" he said. "They're everywhere; it's inevitable. Nice to meet you, Sawyer. Delaney has had only wonderful things to say about you."

"Thanks," Sawyer said, mildly surprised at the friendliness of the man. "Nice to meet you too."

"Dr. Grego- I mean, Atticus, has been telling me all about his research on psychic pokemon," Delaney said. "He's been studying their intelligence quotients. His alakazam has an IQ of 5,000!"

"They never forget anything," Atticus said with a nod. "When a kadabra evolves into an alakazam, their muscles grow considerably weaker and even shrink some, but their brain grows."

"I wonder what Synapse's IQ is…" Delaney wondered out loud.

"I've never had the chance to study any of the psychic pokemon native to the Unova region," Atticus said thoughtfully. "Perhaps when I'm back in my lab in Kanto, you'll come see me and allow me to study your reuniclus… If your schedule allows it, that is."

"That would be awesome!" Delaney said with a bright grin. Sawyer couldn't help but notice how much more cheerful her entire demeanor was, a far cry from the girl who he had seen in tears several times over the last week. "I think Sawyer and I should get going, but thanks for showing me some of your research!"

"Of course, Delaney, glad to be of help to you. I'm sure we'll be in contact again," he said, briskly shaking her hand. "Good to meet you, Sawyer."

"You as well, sir," Sawyer said as he followed Delaney out of the small "gym". Atticus just seemed like a sir.

The air just seemed that much fresher outside as Delaney and Sawyer stepped onto the sidewalk of the main street. "That was interesting. We barely had anything to talk about as far as Lilycove goes, but I was waiting for you before I went back to the Pokemon Center and he brought up his research and it was awesome. He's a very intelligent man." Delaney was rambling, and she knew it, but she was so much more cheerful than she had been in a very long time and Sawyer didn't want to stop her. "Sawyer?"

"Yeah, Del?" he asked wearily.

"I just wanted to say thank you… For going to the meeting with me, I mean. I know it was kind of chaotic, but I'm really glad you gave it a shot. It meant a lot to me." A soft smile came across her face and even in the glow of the streetlights, Sawyer could see a bit of moisture gathering in her violet eyes. "You know-"

"Delaney!" a male voice called. Sawyer didn't recognize it right away and prayed to Arceus that it was not Nick.

It wasn't. The man that approached was slightly older than the two of them, with dark hair and dark eyes, perhaps in his early to mid-twenties. He stood in front of them in a _very_ fancy blue suit and hat. Sawyer knew that he did not know this man, as he would remember making a sarcastic comment about his hat, but Delaney seemed to be familiar with him. "Hi!" she said, clearly surprised at his presence. She turned to Sawyer. "Sawyer, this is Riley, another member of the Elite Four. He's in charge of security. Riley, this is my best friend, Sawyer."

They both nodded at each other as a hello, but it was clear that Riley had more important things to discuss. Delaney was a bit too chatty to let him begin though. The hint of tears was gone from her eyes, but the sparkle was not. "What are you doing here? I thought you've been in Dewford."

"I have, but there was an emergency here that needed my attention," he said.

Emergency? Sawyer looked around the main street, but all seemed calm. "What's going on?" Delaney asked.

"The former base of Team Aqua at the foot of the city has been ransacked. It was clear some things were taken, but we're not sure what. Somebody reported a person in red running away from the base, though," Riley said with a frown.

"Red?" Delaney said, the smile wiping off of her face as well.

"Red," Riley confirmed. "And seeing as how Team Aqua's greatest nemesis also had an affinity for red, there's really only one thing we can say."

"Team Magma," Delaney said dully.

Riley only nodded. "We're not getting much further in Dewford either, but Brawley seems to think you being there can only help, so expect a call from me within the next couple days."

"Brawley thinks I can help?" Delaney said, surprised.

"It's not that I didn't think you could help, but I didn't want you to," Riley told her. "It's looking more and more that I don't have a choice though, and you're a great trainer, Delaney. I think you might be able to accomplish something. I'm just sorry I have to ask."

"Stop apologizing, Riley," Delaney said with a sigh. "I'll help if you need me to, just say the word."

"I just don't want to upset you again," he said. The look on his face clearly signified he was uncomfortable.

"About that… I'm sorry," Delaney cringed. "I'm just kind of sensitive about… that subject and I blew up. It was wrong of me. I'm sorry."

"You have every right to be… Sensitive, I mean," Riley told her. "I'm just glad we're back on good terms. Expect a call from me soon, Delaney. I have to get back to Dewford."

"Of course. Take care, Riley," she said, waving at him as he headed off. She began walking in the direction of the Pokemon Center once more. "You're really quiet tonight, Sawyer. Did something happen after I left the meeting?"

She caught him off guard. "Oh… No. Just thinking, I guess." In truth, he had been trying to focus on the scene in front of him between Riley and Delaney and _not_ think- specifically, he was trying not to think about the conversation he had heard outside The Nascence's base that was about Delaney. It was easier to just focus on everything else around him than to think about how he was going to tell Delaney that there was something that was very much not right about the Nascence without sounding like he was just dismissing them as a cult again.

Plus, he just hated to even bring it up. That soft smile, the sparkle in her eye- they hadn't been present since before The Dragonspiral Incident. They were signs of the old Delaney and even if they were born of ignorant bliss, they were still there, and it made him smile to see her so… _happy._ "Today has been kind of a crazy day… Lots to think about," she said with a nod. "So anyways, Sawyer, I have kind of a crazy idea for the next couple days until Riley calls for us to go to Dewford. I mean, you heard him, he'll call me when he's ready for me to go. Aside from Dewford, we're done with progress checks and whatnot so… I was thinking maybe we could talk to Nick and maybe work on getting some donations or something… You know, helping with The Nascence? I know Malonie told me to get underwear and socks and whatnot and I'll get some tomorrow but there's got to be something else we can do… Maybe you can talk Ren into showing me the plans she's been working on? Do you think she'd let me see them?" she asked, her violet eyes wide.

"Del, you're rambling."

"_Sawyerrrrrr_," she whined. She was giving him massive puppy-growlithe eyes, batting her long lashes and sticking out her lower lip slightly in a pout. Sawyer sighed and purposefully tried to keep his eyes away from Delaney's face. "I thought… I mean, you seemed to be on board with The Nascence."

"It wasn't bad… I…" He was definitely stumbling. How did he even start this conversation? "Listen, Del, don't you think you're doing too much too soon? I mean, there has to be something else you can do to help Steven because, um, isn't your job to be an Elite Four member?"

By the look on Delaney's face, you would think that he had slapped her with those words. Her brows furrowed and the delicate features of her face were overwhelmed by hurt, confusion and a bit of anger. "I-" she began, but she seemed utterly flustered and unsure of her words. Delaney Caldwell was _speechless._ That was certainly a new one. "All I've been hearing since I've got here, Sawyer, is that I should have done more, that I shouldn't be here because I should be in Unova. I want to do more. I want to help. Now that I have both time and opportunity, shouldn't I _that_ be my job?"

"I'm not saying you shouldn't help, Del," he said, trying to gain back some ground. He hated to admit it, but he himself was getting flustered. There was a powderkeg of tension in the air around them, and all it took to set it off was one little spark. "I'm just saying… Well, how much do you really even know about The Nascence? Or about Nick?"

The narrowing of Delaney's eyes told him right there that he had not stumbled upon the right words. "Is that what this is about, Sawyer? Because I told you, my involvement in The Nascence isn't about Nick."

"I didn't say it was, Del," he said quickly, trying to minimize the damage from his fumble. "I'm sorry, I spoke too soon… I'm sorry if that's what you thought I meant. I just… I don't want to see you get hurt, Del."

"So you're still not convinced, then," she said dully. "Though, in all honesty, I don't have to convince you of anything. Sawyer, you're my best friend and I love you, but I'm not going to stay away from The Nascence because you don't like them." The sparkle in her eyes was gone, as was the soft smile from earlier. Her lips were now pursed, and there was a defiant spark in her eyes.

A _spark_.

"I'm not telling you to stay away," Sawyer said, not liking this newfound defiance in Delaney. It was dangerous, that's what it was. "I'm not telling you anything. I just really, _really_ want you to be careful. You just met those people. You don't know anything about them. I just think-"

"You're making what you think pretty clear, Sawyer," Delaney said. She crossed her arms in front of her.

"I'm not saying The Nascence is _bad_ per say," Sawyer said, still faltering. He had never been what you could call eloquent, nor had he ever possessed the amount of verbal prowess that Delaney seemed capable of. Their friendship had been pretty smooth sailing, but whenever she and Sawyer came to a disagreement, she had made it pretty clear that when it came to arguments, Sawyer was _way _out of his league. "Del, this is coming out all wrong. I don't want to fight with you. I'm sorry. Please, can we forget about this?" He was downright pleading now.

"Our _families_ are there, Sawyer," she said softly, his pleas falling upon deaf ears. "Arceus knows what Galactic and Plasma have done to Lydia or my father just for being unfortunate enough to be related to me."

Somehow, within the span of five minutes, Delaney had gone from joyful to positively fuming to now absolutely melancholy and now Sawyer was at a loss for words. "I haven't forgotten, Del, but there's nothing you can do about that right now. There's nothing anybody can do."

"It must be nice to not have to have that burden of responsibility on your shoulders," she said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "That's why you don't get it, Sawyer. You aren't the one that people blame. I bet if you were, you'd damn sure be in a bigger hurry to help."

The tone of her voice was slowly but surely becoming tinged with anger and Sawyer was worried about the implications of that. Somehow they had gotten into the same old song and dance, but this argument was going nowhere and he hadn't even told her about what he had heard after the meeting. "I have my own feelings of responsibility," Sawyer said softly. If she wanted to talk about it, then they would. "I wish there was more I could've done… To help you… To help Alex…"

"Stop it," she snapped, her lips tightly pursed together. A couple of tears fell down her cheeks that she couldn't withhold.

"But what happened to him, it came out of nowhere. I couldn't have stopped Cyrus. _You_ couldn't have stopped Cyrus. It's horrible, but-"

"Sawyer, _stop._" Her effort to stop more stray tears was in vain and they streamed down her flushed cheeks. Sawyer honestly couldn't tell if she was now sad or angry, but regardless, Sawyer had struck a nerve.

"I'm sorry," Sawyer said. "But please, just listen to me. I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm not trying to change your mind or stop you from doing anything… But there's just something not right about The Nascence," Sawyer blurted out.

"Sawyer, forget it," she said, brushing away the tears from her face. "Just stop."

"No, please, please listen," he begged. "We got really off-topic from what I wanted to tell you, and I'm sorry I brought up Alex, I know you're not ready to discuss that, but please listen, Del. I heard Nick and Malonie talking and-"

"So this _is _about Nick?" she interrupted.

"No," he said exasperatedly. "Okay listen, there was fighting and yelling and Malonie really doesn't like you-"

"That's news," the brunette said dryly. Now that she had wiped the tears away from her face, her arms were crossed in front of her again.

"And the whole conversation was really sketchy and I think Nick might be using you, but I don't want to say that for sure because I don't want to make you mad," Sawyer said, rushing his words so that Delaney couldn't interrupt him again.

He expected anger. Fever outbursts were kind of her staple these days. He did not expect the blank look on her face, or the exasperated sigh. "This conversation is over," Delaney said dully. "Goodbye Sawyer." And with that, she called out her altaria and flew off, presumably towards The Nascence's base, as Sawyer stood in the middle of Lilycove's main street with a dumbstruck look on his face. How had the conversation even spun out of control like that?

Arceus, _women_.

* * *

Grace had just gotten outside of Lilycove when Delaney told her to land so she could make a call. The altaria landed right outside the border of Lilycove and Delaney immediately hopped off and grabbed her Crosstransceiver out of her bag, keeping Grace out so she could immediately hop back on after the call. She scrolled through her contact list hurriedly until she found the person she was looking for and pressed the call button.

It rang once… twice… three times before his face filled the screen. "Hey, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," Nick said, genuine surprise filling his gray eyes.

"Where are you right now?" Delaney asked. It was a horrible idea, she knew. She knew the responsible thing to do would be to head right back to Lilycove, apologize to Sawyer for once again being overly sensitive and argumentative and prepare to head for Evergrande.

"I'm just leaving Mauville. I was going to stay in the Pokemon Center overnight, but all the rooms are full so I thought I'd go stay the night at the base," he told her. "Is everything okay?"

"I just… I need to see you." The words tumbled out before Delaney could decide upon the _responsible_ thing. "Is it okay if I meet you there?"

His mouth curled up into a smile. "Of course it is. I'll see you soon."

Delaney hung up the call and put her Crosstransceiver back in her bag. "Grace, let's head towards Route 118," Delaney turned her and with a joyful trill, the magnificent clouded bird began to head west.

* * *

Brenna was about to lock the door to the main lobby when Sawyer landed right in front of the main doors. He recalled Busby and grabbed the handle. A surprised Brenna pushed the door open for him to get through. "Hi Sawyer!" she said, her soft blue eyes flickering with joy. "I didn't expect you and Delaney to be back so late. Is she right behind you?"

"It's just me," Sawyer said in a gruff manner that was very much not Sawyer-like. "Thank you for not locking me out, Brenna."

And that was all he said before he strode off in the direction of the rooms so that he could go to his suite and ponder what in the hell had happened that evening as he took a very long and well-deserved rest.

Maybe tomorrow he would go see Fluffy.

* * *

Delaney landed as Nick strode up to the base entrance in the same burgundy polo shirt and jeans that he had worn earlier that day, though he had changed out of his white tennis shoes that had probably been ruined with mud into a pair of gray slip-on canvas shoes. She forced a smile for Grace and thanked her for flying her and then recalled the majestic bird.

Nick was wide-eyed at her sharp mannerisms. "Delaney, is everyt-"

"Please don't ask that again," she said as she walked past him and into the Nascence base.

It certainly seemed like a different place without the swarming bodies of The Nascence all around. Without people, it just looked like a lonely room with a table made of small gray logs and little chairs to match. The unoccupied armchair hung about like a heavy shadow. She went to sit down, but Nick grabbed her arm. "I have no idea what is going on and I would really appreciate it if you filled me in because I have no idea what I did to upset you."

"It's not you," she sighed. "It's really not." Nick, too, sighed and shook his head as he enveloped Delaney in a hug, wrapping his arms around her waist. The brunette was quiet for a moment as she just reveled in the comfort of the embrace and then Nick heard a sniffle.

"Del, I'm starting to really worry. Will you pl-"

"I think I'm going crazy," Delaney cut him off. "I got in a really big fight with Sawyer and I don't even know what started it, but I'm pretty sure he hates me now and I just want to do something to help so that maybe I can stop feeling like shit for not being able to stop Cyrus and I know I've had three years to get used to the idea but I can't and-"

"Woah, Del, slow down," he said, moving his right hand to her shoulder. "One thing at a time before you really overwhelm yourself. You had a fight with Sawyer?"

"He seemed like he was fine with this whole Nascence thing. I mean, he stayed for hours after I left and he was talking to Percy and Cam and Ren, but he said there's something not right about it and he said he heard you and Malonie talking about something…" Delaney paused, realizing that she hadn't even given Sawyer the chance to say what he had heard them saying.

"I think I know what he heard," Nick said with a sigh. "Look, to put this in the most delicate way possible, Malonie… isn't fond of the idea of you being in The Nascence. She's afraid that your involvement will alert Plasma or Galactic to the fact that there happens to be a group fighting against them… One that involves you. She thinks that may cause them to take action against us."

Delaney looked up at Nick, wide-eyed. "I never even thought of that. Arceus, Nick, I'm sorry."

Nick shook his head. "No, no, Del. Look, there's _always _been a risk that someone will find out about a resistance group and that they'll take action against us. Personally, I think you being involved will maybe give us more public awareness around here and maybe convince others in Hoenn to help us out. I think you being here is a great thing, for Hoenn, for yourself, for The Nascence and I guess, selfishly, for me. Malonie and I got in an argument about it earlier… That's what Sawyer must have heard."

"Nick, I'm sorry," she said, frowning.

"No, I wish I had known that he had been nearby, so I could've explained to him the circumstances," Nick said, rubbing her shoulder. "I'm really sorry that you guys got in a fight over this."

"No, it's… I guess I just kind of… I don't know, I just get sensitive and then I don't listen and I just cut him off and walked away. I've been doing that lately. It's horrible of me," the brunette said with a sigh.

"You've been under a lot of stress," Nick said, moving his hand down to her arm and taking his other hand off of her waist. "You're doing the best you can. Sometimes you make mistakes- everybody does. This will all blow over."

"I'm sorry, Nick," she muttered.

"Why are you apologizing now?" he asked with a sigh.

"I'm sorry that I just randomly came out here and unloaded all of this crap on you," she said ruefully. "You must be pretty sick of me bitching all the time."

"Absolutely not," he said firmly. "But stop apologizing for everything. Delaney, I think you're a great person. I don't mind you venting to me because I care, and if venting makes you feel better, I want you to feel free to do it without feeling like you need to apologize for it. If I minded, I wouldn't even bother to answer my phone."

"Well… Thank you," she said. "I would apologize for apologizing all the time, but it seems really counter-productive, so I'll just say that I'm really grateful that you let me hang out with you here."

"Of course," he said with a grin. "You know, you could stay here with me tonight… You don't have to, of course. I just thought since you and Sawyer are fighting and it sounds like you haven't had the best day, maybe you didn't want to be alone tonight."

"I want to…" she said, but her voice was hesitant. "But they're probably expecting me in Evergrande."

"Do you have a meeting or something?" Nick asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"No, I finished most of my work today and I'm on a delay for my next project but… I guess the responsible thing to do would just be to head there and wait for the call," she said, staring at the ground.

"So you don't _need _to be there?" Nick asked, moving behind her and putting his hands to her shoulders and rubbing lightly.

"Well, technically… No, but-"

Nick cut her off before she could finish. "There's always a _but _with you, Delaney," he said softly, directly in her ear. "Do you ever do what you want, or do you always stick to what's expected of you?"

"I'm part of the Elite Four," she said weakly. It was almost the exact reverse of the argument that she had just had with Sawyer. "I should-"

"You should take a break, Del," he purred in her ear. "You're stressed, you've had a really hard week and I'd like to make it better. They can live without you for one night. You can start back up in the morning."

"Well… I don't have any of my camping stuff with me. It's been a couple years since I carried any of that with me," she said with a sigh. It was maybe quite possible that her resolve was starting to break down just a little bit.

"We keep a couple sleeping bags on hand just in case," Nick said. "Or you know, you could share with me." Delaney looked up at him, eyes wide, her face turning even redder, if that was even possible. "Relax, Del, I'm kidding."

Delaney's mouth curled up in a small smile, though her face was still flushed. "I'd like to. Stay here, I mean."

"I would too," he said, brushing a light kiss on her temple. "I'd like that a lot."

* * *

Sawyer was pacing.

Mind you, he didn't like pacing. It took way too much energy that could otherwise be spent doing something much more interesting. However, he had been calling Delaney for the last twenty minutes, and she wasn't answering and he was officially anxious and worried, which he also didn't like. He really wasn't much of a worrier… Unless it had to do with Delaney. That girl seriously had the worst luck and got herself into the worst situations. It was hard to _not _worry when it came to Delaney Caldwell, especially when she didn't answer her phone.

He was pretty sure that she was with Nick because calling him when she was upset sounded like a remarkably Delaney thing to do… However, _what _the two of them were doing was beyond him. There was something dangerous about the way that Nick and Malonie had argued, so it was possible that Delaney was hurt. It was also possibly that the two of them were canoodling, or doing something more than canoodling, and if they were, Sawyer really didn't want to know.

There were just too many _if_'s, and Sawyer didn't know what to do.

Finally, Sawyer took a deep breath and hit the buzzer by the door. _This _had been his very first idea, but he had begun to pace when the idea crossed his mind that maybe this was a bit too much like tattling and it was stupid to bring it to this level. But… The part of Sawyer that was really worried that Delaney would end up hurt in someone (and really, that was a large part) won out and he pressed the damn buzzer.

It took a moment before someone answered him. "Hello?" he asked, sounding very confused. Of course he was confused. It was close to nine at night and it was an odd occurrence for anyone to come calling when he hadn't asked for them. "Can I help you?"

"Hello, uh, Champion Steven sir?" Sawyer asked hesitantly. "This is Sawyer Hale. I need to talk with you about what could potentially be a problem."

For a moment, Sawyer wondered if he was insane, calling upon the Champion of Hoenn at nine at night. He wouldn't have been surprised if the man told him to come back at a decent hour of the day. However, the door opened and standing in front of him, looking just as powerful and professional as he did during normal business hours, was Steven Stone, looking very quizzically at him. "Is everything okay?"

"I… Do you mind if I come in?" And with that, Sawyer was led into the plush office that belonged to Steven Stone. Several gems in display cases were displayed throughout the room and a large, luxurious oak desk. Steven took his place in a plush leather chair on one side, and gestured to a comfortable-looking armchair on the other side of the desk. Sawyer sat down and took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of The Nascence?"

* * *

So Sawyer told him everything, from finding Delaney in Ecruteak City, a total mess but unwilling to admit it, to the two of them coming to Hoenn and everything that had happened since. He even mentioned the troubles Delaney had encountered with Hudson and Jackson (he was pretty sure that Delaney would kill him for that one). And then… The Nascence- from Nick chatting Delaney up in Mauville, to the meetings and finally, to the argument he had heard outside. And through it all, Steven sat in his plush desk chair, looking pensive.

After Sawyer finished rambling, Steven sat in silence for a moment, clearly trying to process the large amount of chatter that had just taken place in his office. "I'm going to call Riley in the morning," he said finally. "I want him to look into The Nascence, and I _definitely _want him to look into the leaders- Nick and Malonie, right?" Sawyer nodded. "My first instinct is that their purpose in inviting Delaney into their group is that they want to use her status and position for some reason. It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to any sort of group. Teams Aqua and Magma started off as groups of well-meaning environmentalists. They believed in their causes so strongly that they almost destroyed everything. The last thing we need is for another group of fanatics dedicated to a cause to spin out of control."

Sawyer nodded again. "Do you think she's in danger?"

Steven paused. "I wish I could give you a clear answer, but I think we need to find out more about this Nascence before I can determine that. I'm not upset with her for allying herself with these people- I understand why, even. There's a chance that we're worrying over nothing- that she's just helping aid Unova and Sinnoh, and they do desperately need help… But there is the potential that she just got herself in way over her head…" He sighed. "Thank you for telling me, Sawyer. I'll definitely be checking into this."

"I didn't want to worry you, sir," Sawyer said. Steven was definitely a _sir. _"I know you've already got plenty to worry about."

"Don't worry about that, Sawyer," Steven said with a chuckle. "It's my job to worry. You should get to bed."

Sawyer got up, even though the armchair was really comfortable and he kind of didn't want to. "Thank you for hearing me out, even though it's kind of late."

"Any time, Sawyer." The auburn-haired boy left Steven's office and began to head back down to his own room. He grabbed his Crosstransceiver one last time and pressed call.

It rang one… two… three times. She didn't answer.

* * *

**Author's Note (11/23/12)**: So I made some major edits to this, so I felt it right to take down the old one and repost this bad boy.

I don't particularly feel like regurgitating my previous author's note, so I hope you understand that I had a lot of responsibilities to tend to over the last few weeks, both academic and personal. Thank _goodness_ this semester is almost over.

A massive thank you, as always, to the fabulous **Noteleks**, my beta and friend. Also a big thank you this go-around to **Maddiepink05**, who has been an awesome reader and reviewer and whose suggestions helped me revise this chapter pretty significantly.

Though of course, a lot of you have been readers and/or reviewers for quite some time as well, and I am so grateful to all of you who take the time to read this story. I'm also very grateful to those of you who take the time to offer up some constructive criticism, or even simply, a few kind words. I'm out of Diet Pepsi, so I'm pretty much running solely on kind words at the moment.

Also, a massive thanks for being patient with me. I know my schedule is out-of-whack and I wish I could promise that it will get less hectic but... Well, that would just be a straight up lie. So I really appreciate that you guys tolerate my brief hiatuses and don't bludgeon me for taking so long. (:

See you next week, all. I'm aiming to finish up chapter 10 this weekend because, well, I'm STOKED for this particular chapter and also, this may be my last bit of free time for awhile.

~DAT


	11. 10: What's It Feel Like to be a Ghost?

_I remember Annette asking me if I was in love with Alex as we rinsed out the hair dye. Did I love Alex? I told her that I could have and maybe I would have, if things had been easier. However, things were not easy and besides, I was barely sixteen and what could I possibly know about love? Was it that feeling of excitement that I felt that night we met in the rain? Was it that mix of anger and joy that I felt that last night he came to see me at the Pokemon Center? Or was it more than that, something that I wouldn't be able to tell now as a cynic of almost twenty, much less as a troubled girl of sixteen?_

_It's been almost four years since I met Alex. That night in the rain seems more and more like something out of a movie than something I really experienced. I'm beginning to wonder if real life doesn't work like that and what happened was a fluke._

_Meeting Alex was a fluke? Yeah, that sounds about right._

* * *

**Chapter 10: What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?**

The sun had barely started to come up when Delaney heard the persistent buzzing of her Crosstransceiver's silent mode. At first she thought she was dreaming because, after all, it was pretty much the middle of the night. But when the vibrating noise didn't go away, Delaney knew she would unfortunately have to get up and see what was going on. Yawning, she wrapped a blanket around herself and got up from where she was laying on the floor to where her bag had been tossed the night before.

The phone lit up with another call right as she picked it up. Steven's face filled the screen. "Shit," she muttered. Did she let the call go to voicemail and put on something more than just a blanket, or did she answer the call as she was? She sighed. The Crosstransceiver _had_ been buzzing for awhile and Steven certainly wasn't calling in the middle of the night just to shoot the breeze. "Steven, I'm so sorry I missed your last call. I was sleeping."

"Oh, that was actually Riley," he said, an odd look on his face that was certainly because her choice of attire. "He asked me to call when he couldn't get a hold of you," Steven said. "I'm sorry to be calling so early, but Riley wanted you to know as soon as possible that you are welcome to go to Dewford now."

"Already?" Delaney asked, stifling a yawn. "When I talked to him last night, he said it would be a few more days."

"Well, I guess he went back and talked to Brawly and Brawly thinks it would be really good if you came to Dewford as soon as you can."

"He does?" Delaney couldn't hide her surprise.

"Of course," Steven said. "I understand if you've made plans for these next couple of days since we thought you'd have it off, but-"

"No no no!" Delaney interrupted, a bit louder than she intended. "I'll be there, Steven! I'll leave in just a minute."

"You can go back to sleep for a few hours and I can tell Brawly and Riley to expect you sometime before noon," Steven offered. "You look uh, rather tired." Arceus, she was really beginning to regret not letting the call go to voicemail.

"No, it's fine!" she insisted. Instinctively, she pulled the blanket around her even more tightly. "I'm already awake and the sooner I get there, the better, right?"

"Absolutely… Well, if that works for you, Delaney, I know Riley and Brawly will be pleased to see you."

"Well I will get my stuff together then and head out, Steven!" Delaney said with a forced smile.

"Excellent, I'll let Riley know you're on your way. Call if you need anything," Steven told her and with that, he hung up. Delaney sighed and put the Crosstransceiver away. That couldn't have been a more awkward call, really.

Once it was safely back in her bag, she grabbed the blanket closer to her and glanced around, trying to see if she could make out the shape of her clothes on the floor. She didn't want to turn the light on and risk waking Nick up because, after all, it was pretty much the middle of the night and that would be totally rude.

Delaney got up and tip-toed across the dark room, her shorts the first thing in sight. After grabbing those, she squinted and glanced across the giant secret base, which served as the headquarters of The Nascence, trying to see what else she could find. Of course, her shirt would be lying right next to the sleeping bag on the floor where Nick was sleeping. As quietly as was humanly possible, Delaney crept across the dark floor, trying to sneak across, grab the garment, get dressed and go without waking him up, a task that seemed both monumental and impossible at such an early hour. The brunette reached the edge of the sleeping bag, leaned over to grab the t-shirt… and of course, in true Delaney fashion, lost her balance and fell right on the sleeping bag.

"It's okay, I was awake before you were," Nick's chuckling voice said, though she couldn't even make out his facial features in the dark room. She bolted up quickly, shirt in hand, and took a seat in a nearby chair.

"I'm sorry!" she squealed. "I was trying to get my shirt."

"Are you always such a klutz?" Nick asked, his voice amused.

Delaney nodded before realizing Nick probably could see her as well as she could see him. "Absolutely," she said. She pulled the shirt on and took the opportunity to pull on her shorts and then try and get on her shoes, tying them as sloppily as a small child.

"So am I going to see you again soon?" Nick asked.

"Of course. I'll call you when I get done with what I need to get done," she promised. "But I need to head out now."

"Have fun, I'm going back to sleep like a normal person," Nick said with a snicker

"Lucky," she murmured. She felt around the walls until she finally found the exit and found herself shivering once she did. The t-shirt and shorts that she had worn yesterday were fine for the hot day and warm night, but the temperature had dropped quite a bit overnight. As Delaney reached inside her bag to find Grace's pokéball, she found herself wishing she had the foresight to bring a jacket as well. It was only going to get colder as the altaria cut through the sky.

* * *

It was considerably warmer when the chirpy altaria landed in the sand in front of the Pokemon Center of Dewford, even though it was still fairly early. She trilled at Delaney as the brunette got off with a smile on her face. She couldn't be anything but happy when it came to Grace and her constant cheeriness. She knew the smile wouldn't last for long with the task at hand, though. There was too much to do and none of it could be considered happy or fun.

Delaney recalled Grace and walked into the Pokemon Center to find a young man with a muscular build and wild sky blue hair standing at the counter, his back turned to the entrance. She glanced around anxiously, not knowing who she should be looking for, but found her answer in a form-fitting black sweater and black cargo pants, his usual fancy hat and jacket nowhere in sight. "I almost didn't recognize you," Delaney said with a smile. Riley looked up with surprise. It was only then that she realized he was on the phone. "Oh, sorry," she whispered.

By that point, the brunette had caught the attention of the guy at the counter. "You've gotta be Delaney," he said, a look of relief coming across his features. He offered her a hearty handshake, which Delaney gladly accepted. "I'm Brawly. Riley's been on the phone with Steven since we got back. We came across some trouble in the cave and had to bail out."

"You guys hadn't already been there before?" Delaney asked, surprised. She thought they had already been actively trying to get rid of Team Magma before calling in for back-up in the form of Delaney.

"We have but… It was just anklebreakers, no sweat. Guess they found out and pulled an action and we got shut down. My hariyama got axed. I don't know how long it's gonna take for this hack shack to get him crackin' again." She wasn't completely sure what he was saying, but _axed_ certainly didn't sound good. She was pretty sure that _axed_ signified injury. After all, they were at the Pokemon Center.

Still, Delaney winced. She definitely knew how it felt to be worried about a hurt pokemon. "Yikes," she muttered. "Do you want me to go on ahead?"

"I don't know, dally…" Brawly said uncertainly.

"I can stay by the entrance and check things out and you and Riley can just meet me there when you've got everything taken care of," Delaney said. Though there were beautiflys in her stomach (and not good beautiflys) at the prospect of going into a cave occupied by Team Magma without any companionship, the smile on her face was earnest and practically begged Brawly to trust her.

"Well, if you're cool with that, that would be rad, Del," he said, a friendly smile coming across his face. "Just… Be careful, okay? And if the surf looks dangerous, don't be afraid to bail. Give us a call."

Delaney nodded. "I'll take care of things," she said confidently, though she was really feeling anything but confident. "Don't worry, Brawly. You can count on me."

* * *

It was perfect pool weather in Evergrande. The sun was out, there was no cloud cover and obviously, Fluffy needed some affection. Everything in the world was beckoning Sawyer to come out and sit by the pool and Sawyer was inclined to agree. He grabbed a towel, grabbed some sunscreen… And then his Crosstransceiver rang.

He glanced down at the screen, where a small picture of Delaney with a bright smile was flashing up at him. Her eyes were still blue, Sawyer realized, so it had to have been taken in Unova. Had he already known she was Delaney Caldwell then, or did he still believe that the brunette was Christa White?

The Crosstransceiver continued to rang as he pondered this, but Sawyer wasn't really feeling like he wanted to answer. Maybe this time he got to be the stubborn one.

The screen went black and Sawyer once again picked up the towel and sunscreen… But the Crosstransceiver began ringing again and Delaney's bright smile once again flooded the screen. Sawyer cringed, detecting an unseen urgency that hadn't been present before. Something was off. Usually if Sawyer didn't answer, Delaney would either leave a message or just hang up and try back later. She was _not_ one of those people that kept trying to call. "Hello?" Sawyer answered hesitantly.

"Sawyer!" Delaney called out, blasting Sawyer's eardrum with a loud, desperate yell. "Sawyer, it's Del. I need help. I tried calling Riley and he's not answering and neither is Steven and I don't know what to do. Please come!"

And momentarily, Sawyer forgot that he hadn't wanted to answer. He forgot their argument the night before (which had made no sense anyways). He even forgot how irritated he was with her. "Where are you? What's wrong?"

"I'm right outside of Dewford Cave. Bring help." And with that, the line went dead. Sawyer sighed, grabbed his trainer bag and headed out.

* * *

He was practically running through the elegant suites that they stayed in. He hurried past the Pokemon Center and right through the front doors. He searched through his bag, his nervous, shaking hands clutching around for Busby's pokéball. He was a little worried that the noctowl wouldn't be able to make the trip, but what choice did he really have? Delaney was in trouble and no matter how mad he got at her sometimes, she was his best friend.

"Sawyer? Is everything alright?" The auburn-haired boy looked up to see none other than Steven Stone standing right in front of him.

"It's Delaney," Sawyer said, continuing to frantically look through the disorganized bag.

"What happened?" Steven asked sharply.

"I don't know. Something's wrong though," he said.

"I'm on my way to Dewford myself. Do you need a lift?" Steven asked.

All Sawyer could do was nod. He just hope Del held up until they got there.

* * *

Under normal circumstances, Sawyer would've been fascinated by the small, cozy island community. Unova had no islands, so Dewford was quite a different experience for him. However, with the panicking feeling in his gut, Sawyer had no choice but to ignore the striking scenery and focus on the task at hand- getting Delaney out of whatever trouble she was in.

Steven's skarmory landed in front of the small Pokemon Center. Inside were only two people- the man Sawyer recognized as Riley from the evening before, though he looked different without his fancy blue hat, and the other, a well-built guy with blue hair and a worried expression on his face. Steven strode through the door purposely. "So glad you're here," Riley muttered, clearly stressed out. "And… you're Delaney's friend, right? Didn't we meet yesterday?

"Yeah, good to see you again," Sawyer said shortly.

"Delaney called Sawyer saying that she's in trouble. Has she contacted either of you?" Steven asked, cutting away from small talk.

"My Crosstransceiver is out of batteries," Riley said. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know, but we need to go help her," Steven said. "Is everything okay with you two?"

"Brody is really hurt, brah," Brawly said with a frown, referring to the hariyama that had been his partner since he was young. "His head took a serious pounding from those rocks."

Steven nodded sympathetically at him. "Riley, Sawyer, let's head to Dewford Cave. Brawly, stay with your pokemon."

"Thanks," Brawly said gratefully. "Call if you need me."

"Just worry about Brody," Steven said. "Sawyer, Riley… Let's go."

* * *

It was a short walk from the Pokemon Center to the mouth of Dewford Cave. Back in the old days, it was rare that one could walk up to the cave without having to walk past a gaggle of fishermen, surfers or other beach enthusiasts, but today, the northern beach of Dewford was completely empty… With the exception of a lone female sitting on a giant rock.

As Steven, Riley and Sawyer grew closer, they realized that the girl was Delaney. Her hair, which had been in a neat ponytail when she left the Pokemon Center, was matted to her skull and blood was splattered all over her legs. Her knees were torn up- she had clearly fallen, probably over a rock, but it was clear that whatever spill she had taken had not caused the mess.

She looked up, wide-eyed, and Sawyer noted that there was dirt and even more blood on her face. Her violet eyes were puffy and red, and you could clearly see the trail of her tears going down her spattered face. "Oh thank Arceus," she breathed.

Sawyer looked upon the faces of his companions. While Steven remained steel-faced, trying to keep control in this situation, Riley looked like he had seen a ghost. His face was pale and his eyes were wide as he took in the sight of Delaney. Sawyer, too, was more than a little worried. "What happened to you?" Steven asked, a calm tone to his voice.

"There…" Delaney started. She took a ragged death. "There's a dead person in there. I tripped and I thought I tripped over a rock but I tripped over a _body_. I don't know what happened but there is something _very_ wrong in that cave!"

"Why didn't you come back to the Pokemon Center?" Riley asked, looking nervous.

"I..." Delaney started, and then the tears began to fall again. "I didn't want you to think I failed you." The blood-splattered brunette burst into a fresh wave of tears and Sawyer sat on the rock next to her, his arm around her shoulders as he sat in silence. He really had no idea what they were dealing with here.

* * *

It took about twenty minutes to calm Delaney down and get her to re-enter the dark cave. Sawyer had Flapjack use flash to help them see their way through the cave, which made it a bit easier to see. Delaney led the way, trying to retrace her steps, and then stopped in front of a large boulder. She peered behind and her eyes widened. "H-here," she choked out.

Except the person behind the boulder wasn't dead. Granted, he was definitely close to it, but his open brown eyes and pained expression made it clear that he was very much alive. It was understandable that Delaney could mistake him for a corpse, though. His face was inhumanly pale, his sandy blonde hair was matted with thick, dark blood and his red Team Magma uniform had a gash in it where someone had clearly swiped him with a knife.

Steven's brow furrowed in confusion. "What is going on?" he muttered to himself. "Who would want to take out Team Magma?" He stopped for a second. "Did Team Aqua have anything to do with this?" His voice was more tense than Delaney had ever heard it, but in a situation like this, that was understandable. Team Magma causing problems again was bad enough- they didn't need the other team jumping back in the fray.

"N-no," the Team Magma member said. "So strong."

"Well, who did this to you?" Steven asked forcibly.

"I-I don't know. Happened so quickly."

"Are there other grunts up ahead to stop us?" Steven barked. "Is Maxie here?"

The Team Magma member looked up at Steven, eyes wide. "M-Maxie? He's never been here."

"You don't have to lie," Riley said, speaking up for the first time. His skin was still noticeably paler than usual. He clearly didn't have the stomach for much gore.

"We know that Team Magma has been rebuilding in this cave."

"Tabitha has been the one leading us," the grunt said. "But there are less t-than a dozen of us, I s-s-swear!"

Riley shook his head vehemently. "No, that's not possible," he said, his usually calm voice tinged with panic. "The theft in Petalburg, the break-in in Lilycove, the crime spike in the last couple months here…"

"What? It wasn't us," the grunt said as forcefully as he could. "A small group of us have been hiding deep in the cave. We t-tried to make a comeback, but you guys are t-t-too strong. Tabitha was about ready to call it quits."

"Why here?" Riley asked, clearly puzzled. "Why set up in Dewford Cave?"

"S-someone told Tabitha that this was a quiet little town that we c-could gain power in. They didn't tell us there was such a strong security force," the grunt said, wincing. Clearly all of the talking Steven and Riley were making him do was causing him great pain.

"Who? Who said that?" Steven said, his steel gray eyes flashing.

"I don't know, I'm just a grunt," the Team Magma member said. "I don't know anything."

"Outside. Let's go," Steven said sharply to his three companions. They quickly backtracked through the cave to the open mouth that led to Dewford's beach. Despite the bright sunshine of the afternoon, there was a definite chill amongst the four. "Do you think he's lying?" he asked.

Riley was clearly shaken, though he was trying to remain calm while speaking in front of Steven. "Well let's consider our options here. Either he's lying and there's a bunch of Team Magma members waiting to ambush us deeper in the cave, or even worse, Maxie waiting to ambush us…"

"Or Team Magma is innocent," Sawyer said, speaking up for the first time since they had found a hysterical Delaney sitting on a rock outside the cave.

"That's the worst of all the options," Riley muttered. "That means we've been wasting our time on Team Magma and there's _another_ threat out there that we don't even know about."

"I think he's telling the truth," Delaney said quietly.

"You're going to believe a Team Magma grunt on word alone?" Sawyer said, surprised.

"You can't fake the look of real fear in your eyes," Delaney said. "That was fear."

"What if we go on ahead and get ambushed?" Riley asked.

"What if we go on ahead and find out what's really going on?" Delaney challenged, gaining back some of her usual gusto. "Riley, you said it yourself- if this isn't Team Magma, it's _somebody_, and we have no other leads. Shouldn't we be trying to explore our options?"

"I completely agree with you, Delaney, but not at the risk of the safety of any of you," Steven said firmly. "We need a plan of action and we need to get in there and see what we're dealing with, in that order. Riley, I want you to get in contact with the gym leaders that have been helping with security. Jackson and Atticus, right?"

"Steven," Delaney said, cutting off Riley before he could answer Steven. "With all due respect, I don't want to sound pushy but I think it's really important that we get in that cave as soon as we can. If Team Magma is the problem, then we need to get in there before they have time to escape or to plant more traps like the rock slide from earlier."

To Delaney's surprise, she looked over to see Riley nodding along. "She has a point, Steven. Time is of the essence. If Team Magma is not who we should be worried about, we need to find out who the real threat is sooner rather than later."

"I still want you to get in contact with Jackson and Atticus," Steven said. "Tell them to get down here immediately. I want you all meeting about this issue before the end of the day."

Riley nodded. "I'll go give them a call. Is there anyone else you want involved with this meeting?"

"The four of you should be able to make some decent headway," Steven said.

"Four?" Riley asked, clearly confused.

At this point, Steven turned to Delaney. "You're done with progress checks for right now. I'd like you to be of assistance to Riley until further notice."

Delaney nodded. "Of course."

Steven paused and then sighed. "I'm not letting you go in there alone," he said, looking at Sawyer.

"Of course, sir," Sawyer said with a quick nod. Delaney's eyes widened. He was really going to let them go through the cave?

"I trust you, Delaney," he said, looking the brunette in the eyes. "I trust you both."

"We won't let you down," she said, her voice more confident than she herself was.

"I want you both in Brawly's gym in two hours," he said sternly. "If you're not back in precisely two hours, I will be sending in reinforcements. Is that clear?"

The stern look in Steven's eyes reminded Delaney of her father and she felt a pang in her heart. "Crystal." She just hoped they wouldn't need those reinforcements.

* * *

**Author's Note (12/18/12): **So fall semester is over... Finally. I really could not be more ecstatic. For those of you that are on break, I hope your time of relaxation has already been good, and for the rest of you... Good luck with the rest of semester.

Chapter 11 will not take nearly so long, as this winter break is kinder to me than years past. I have days off! I have only half days of work! I have a week's vacation! So I'll be trying to stockpile some chapters and hopefully get on a normal updating schedule. I'll let you know when I have things figured out.

Thank you, as always, to the wonderful **Noteleks**, my friend and beta. And thank you SO much to you, the people that read these chapters. I so appreciate you all!

See you soon, lovely readers. :)

~DAT


	12. 11: Unstable

_There was a time when every time I closed my eyes, I would go back to that moment right after the Spear Pillar- the moment where I was aware of my surroundings, but I couldn't open my eyes. It was the last moment that Alex and I ever interacted as Alex and Delaney. A couple times after that, I dreamed of the Spear Pillar itself. I don't have those dreams anymore, thank Arceus. I'm also pretty grateful that I don't dream of Dragonspiral. I really don't visit my memories in my dreams anymore. This is a good thing._

_The other night I dreamed that I was opening a package like the one Alex sent, which contained that letter and the pokeball that had Perry. Except Alex was standing right next to me, telling me to toss the letter and not to read it. When I went to open it, he took it and crumbled it up and then he stomped on it. Then he told me to take Perry and run like hell as fast as I could. He didn't tell me to go to Unova, like the letter said. He just said run. So I did._

* * *

**Chapter 11: Unstable**

"Are you kidding me?!" The loud yell came from the Dewford Gym, though the leader was still at the Pokemon Center, two hours after he had checked in. "What kind of sick bastard robs a food bank?" the voice in question belonged to Lavaridge Gym Leader, Jackson Street, who had been summoned to Dewford by Riley for a meeting with the Elite Four member and Steven, the Champion. As soon as Jackson had arrived, though, Steven was rushing out the door to deal with another crisis.

Exhaustion was more than slightly present in Steven's nod and the sigh that followed. "I know, I know… I'm going to go shopping and replace everything that was stolen so that nobody who needed that food has to suffer, but I'm just amazed that somebody would have the audacity to commit such a crime. This just disgusts me."

"We'll find a culprit, Steven," Riley promised. The usually calm young man had a frazzled look in his eyes. "Anderson has a patrol around Lilycove to see if they can find whoever did this."

"This is just getting out of hand," Steven muttered. "I really hate to leave with what's going on though."

"What exactly _is_ going on?" Jackson asked.

"I'll explain in a minute," Riley said. "Steven, I swear I will call you if something happens. The people of Lilycove are in a panic though. They could use some words of reassurance from Champion Steven Stone."

"I will have my Crosstransceiver on loud," Steven said pointedly. "Watch the clock. If Delaney and Sawyer are not back within the next hour and a half, you call me and I will send as many people as I can afford your way."

"Of course," Riley promised. "They'll be back, Steven, don't worry. Delaney is stubborn, but she's not stupid. She'll leave before she gets herself in too deep."

"She already is just by being in that cave," Steven said exasperatedly. "But there was no way I was talking her out of staying. Please let me know if there's any more trouble."

"Of course," Riley repeated. "Steven, you can go, everything will be fine."

Steven sighed. "Okay. We'll be in touch." And with that, the Champion of Hoenn vacated the Dewford Gym. He could be heard calling out his skarmory and flying away on the great steel bird.

After a moment of silence, the sandy brown-haired gym leader cleared his throat. "So… Uh, Riley… You want to tell me what's going on?"

* * *

"It's way too quiet in here," whispered the auburn-haired boy, looking around anxiously.

"Why are you whispering?" replied an oblivious Delaney at full volume, raising her eyebrows skeptically.

"Because it seems weird that it's so quiet," Sawyer replied in a frantic whisper. "Do you think whatever did that to that Magma grunt is waiting for us? Maybe this wasn't the best idea."

Delaney didn't respond other than to reach into her bag and grab a pokéball. She didn't really care which one, as all of her companions were more than capable of taking care of anything that could possibly be a threat to Delaney, but just the feel of the metal in her palm was reassuring. "Do you think we made a mistake by having Flapjack use flash? Do you think maybe that alerted whatever maniac is out there that we're here?"

The brunette shook her head. "I don't care if it alerted somebody that we're here. There was no way in hell that we were walking around in the dark for some _maniac_ to just come pick us off."

Sawyer bit his lip nervously. "I just really have a bad feeling about this."

"You're paranoid," Delaney said dismissively, though in truth, she was a lot more nervous than she seemed. It wasn't the idea of some random lunatic that made her nervous, though. It was the idea that Team Magma was down here ready to pop out at any moment.

About five feet ahead of them, skipping along merrily as if they were on a stroll through the park was Flapjack, Sawyer's flaaffy and his most frequent partner in crime. Despite the fact that he obviously didn't know where they were going either, they had been letting Flapjack lead them around for about twenty minutes while they crept along as quietly as they possibly could. Even if she didn't necessarily agree with Sawyer's whispering theory, even Delaney thought there was no need to make unnecessary noise.

"So uh," Delaney began. "Why did you bring Steven with you? I didn't realize you two were such good pals." She didn't really want to start a fight with Sawyer, considering how he had rushed there to help her, but she was still slightly irritated that he had dragged Steven into this.

"Riley called him and he was already planning on going," Sawyer said, his voice still hushed. "I ran into him when I was about to leave. Good thing, too, because I'm not sure Busby could've made such a long trip."

"Grace was more than happy to fly all the way out here," Delaney said with a soft chuckle. "Though Grace is always happy about everything."

There was an awkward silence as they plodded along, Flapjack's bright tail bouncing along in front of them. "Isn't that the same shirt you wore yesterday?" Sawyer asked. Delaney glanced at him. The look on his face was neutral, but there was a touch of red to his cheeks and the tips of his ears.

"I forgot to pack another set of clothes," Delaney lied smoothly. Actually, there was another set in her bag, but in her efforts to be quiet that morning, she hadn't wanted to rustle through her bag and risk waking up Nick. And besides, she didn't want to leave her clothes behind, right? It wasn't like she had planned to see anybody who would've been able to tell anyways.

The two continued to walk in tense silence until Sawyer came to a realization. "Where's Flapjack?" he asked, forgetting to whisper.

"Shit," Delaney muttered. The two turned on their heels to see if they could spot the small sheep pokemon. They couldn't have been walking along without him for too long, right?

Flapjack had wandered off into a small crevice behind some boulders… that were smeared with blood. Delaney and Sawyer warily approached them. The flaaffy bounded over to Sawyer happily, leaving the body behind.

This person was most definitely actually dead, unlike the grunt at the entrance. There was no way anybody could've lived past the brutal beating that this grunt had. Instead of attacking with the knife that Delaney knew they had, this grunt had been brained upon the boulders they had clearly been hiding behind. Their face was so disfigured for being smashed so many times on the boulders that Delaney couldn't even tell if they had been male or female (though the skirt the grunt was wearing gave it away).

Had this grunt been hiding from somebody, or were they ducking behind this boulder ready to ambush whoever came by? Delaney had no clue, and she likely never would. Delaney and Sawyer exchanged a look. "Maybe we should keep moving…" Delaney said hesitantly.

"And maybe I should put Flapjack back in his pokéball," Sawyer muttered.

"No!" Delaney said quickly. "Maybe you just… carry him, or something?"

Sawyer swallowed. "Good idea. Let's go."

Delaney and Sawyer couldn't get away from the brained grunt fast enough. They didn't really care where they were going, just that it was far away from her. "What are we looking at for time?" she asked finally, once they were good and far away.

Sawyer pulled out his Crosstransceiver. "We need to be back at the gym in… fifty-five minutes. Maybe… Maybe we should start heading back."

Delaney really didn't want to head back yet. After all, they were looking for answers and they really hadn't found any… But on the other hand, the last thing she wanted was Steven to think she needed to be rescued (well, rescued again). Begrudgingly, she nodded. "Would you happen to know what way that is?" she asked.

Sawyer stopped walking, which made Delaney stop as well. "You don't know where we're at?"

"Sawyer, really, after all this time, you don't know better than that?" Delaney asked with a strained chuckle. _Oh no._

Sawyer grimaced. "This is true. You couldn't find your way out of a paper bag. _Shit._ Well, how big is this cave? We haven't been in here that long, right? We can't be too lost. Maybe we can backtrack to… that delightful young lady and then just go backwards from there?"

"I wouldn't know how to find her again if I wanted to, which I really don't want to, just by the way. And even if we did manage to find her, I don't think I could find my way back from there. Could you?" Delaney was starting to panic. They were wasting time just standing there. What if they couldn't make it back? She had no doubt Steven was just waiting for the two. Oh Arceus, he would be _pissed._ She had never seen Steven angry, nor did she really want to.

Sawyer shook his head. "I was so panicked when I saw that Flapjack wasn't with us that my feet just started moving. Okay, this place really can't be that big. We'll find our way out…" He paused and thought for a second. His eyes lit up. "Or maybe Brawly or Steven know the way! Call them, tell them we're lost, but also add that we're alive so that Steven isn't worried."

All things considered, that wasn't the worst idea. It might also alleviate them of a time constraint if Steven knew they were alright and trying to find the way out. "Good idea." She reached into her bag to find her Crosstransceiver. She scrolled through her contacts and highlighted Steven's name, but the stupid communication device wouldn't dial out. "GAH!" she yelled, frustrated.

"No service… Of course," Sawyer said with a sigh. "It's probably because we're on the bottom level. Okay, let's leave something here and start wandering. If we come across it again, it means we're going in circles and are totally screwed." Sawyer rustled through his bag and pulled out an orange sock. He laid it across a nearby rock like a pennant. "Okay, let's start walking, Del. We can't stay here forever."

"Right," Delaney said unsurely. "We can't stay here forever."

* * *

"This is the third fucking time we've walked by that stupid sock," Delaney cursed angrily. "We have twenty-five minutes to be at that gym or Steven is going to have our heads."

Sawyer had no solution other than to clench his jaw. "I… don't know what to do, Del, I'm sorry. We're lost. We can't call out. We're screwed."

"Maybe I can help," said a soft soprano voice.

"Arceus, it's the maniac, I knew it," Sawyer whimpered.

"Sawyer… It's a girl," Delaney said as an extremely tall, lanky girl with a headband holding back her dark brown hair approaching them.

"Delaney, girls are usually the crazy ones… Just look at you!" Sawyer said pointedly.

"Hey!" Delaney protested.

"Are you guys lost?" the girl said, her silver eyes twinkling. "I could help you get back to the entrance if you want."

"She's going to _murder_ _us_," Sawyer said under his breath.

Delaney, however, was desperate. If she was going to get back to the gym on time, she was going to need to take a chance on this potentially murderous girl. "That would be really great if you could help us," she said with a smile. "I'm Delaney and this is Sawyer."

"So she gives out our real names," Sawyer sighed.

"I'm Jenna," she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you guys. I'll get you out of here."

"You really don't mind?" Delaney asked.

"Nah, my family and I used to camp here all the time when I was younger," she said easily. "This is actually where I caught my first pokemon. He was chewing on our tent poles." She had a fond smile on her face. "I like to come back here now and just train and wander around. Fond memories, you know?"

"Yeah," Delaney said with a smile, despite not having any fond memories of this cave of her own and just wanting to get the hell out.

"Come on, the mouth of the cave is this way," Jenna said, gesturing to her left. "We don't have too far to go."

Delaney glanced down at her Crosstransceiver. "Do you think it's possible we'll be out in… twenty minutes?"

"I think so!" Jenna said with a smile. "So… Not to be a downer, but have you guys noticed something strange?"

"You mean like the bloody corpses?" Sawyer said sarcastically before he could stop himself.

Jenna's eyes widened. "Um, what?"

"Okay, so you haven't seen the bloody corpses…" Sawyer muttered.

"The… What is going on?" Jenna asked.

"Team Magma grunts…" Delaney said quietly. "There was one we came across down here that had her skull bashed in. There was another one by the entrance that had been swiped with a knife."

"I definitely haven't seen something like _that_," Jenna said nervously. "Have you found whoever is doing it? Or do you know who did it?"

Delaney shook her head. "No idea."

"I thought I saw someone else down here earlier, but I figured that was just my imagination. I didn't get a good look at them anyways. They were moving pretty fast." They came to a stop in front of a ladder. "Climb this. It's pretty much a straight shot once you're up the ladder, but I'll walk you out anyways."

Delaney was the first to climb the ladder. Her hands grasped the cool metal as she pulled herself up, taking it step by step. Sawyer wasn't too far behind her and Jenna took up the rear. Hesitantly, she pulled herself up to the first level and took a seat on the ground for a moment.

Not too far up ahead was a person with their back to Delaney. All she could see was curly hair, some sort of hat, a dark shirt and a pair of jeans. The person was definitely female. Delaney also saw a hand in the air that was clearly holding a knife that was quickly being brought down. A soft whimper rang out. "Fuck," Delaney muttered to herself, hoping to Arceus that the girl didn't turn around. She scooted back as quietly as she could until she hit a stone wall and she pressed herself tightly against it.

_Please, please, PLEASE don't turn around._

She didn't, and after the third time her arm went down and came back up, she walked in the opposite direction of Delaney towards the sliver of light at the edge of Delaney's vision, which she assumed was the mouth of the cave. Delaney realized exactly what (or rather, _who) _this stranger had been taking her aggression out on- the grunt from earlier.

No sooner than she began heading the opposite direction did Sawyer pop his head out and uneasily make his way to the ground. He opened his mouth and Delaney shushed him quickly and pointed straight ahead. Sawyer raised his eyes at her and she mouthed the word "_maniac_" at him. His eyes quickly widened and he shut his mouth.

Jenna didn't reappear until after the figure had disappeared. "Sorry about that, guys! That ladder is getting more unstable every year and I'm always a little hesitant on it." With Jenna now in tow, the three began walking towards the exit, in the same direction the figure had headed.

"Wish you had told us that before we climbed it," Sawyer muttered to himself.

"No worries," Delaney said with a fake cheery smile. "Is that the exit right up there?"

"Yup!" Jenna said cheerfully. "I'm really glad I ran into you guys. After what you told me with someone running around hurting people, I would've been kind of nervous to be wandering around in here by myself."

"We're glad we ran into you too," Delaney said. "I really appreciate you helping us out of here."

The mouth of the cave became bigger and bigger the more they walked towards it until finally, Delaney could see the beaches of Dewford. She was so happy she could nearly cry. She glanced at her Crosstransceiver.

Three minutes.

"Hey, would you mind if maybe I registered you in my Crosstransceiver?" Jenna asked. "Maybe we could battle sometime or something!"

"Yeah, sure!" Delaney said, taking her Crosstransceiver. She input her number as quickly as she could. "Feel free to give me a call sometime. I'd like to talk when we're _not_ in some creepy cave," she said with a friendly smile. "And I really hate to cut you short, but I really need to get to Dewford Gym like now, so it was nice to meet you but I have to go." She smiled apologetically at her. "Come on, Sawyer!" Delaney began running down the beaches, Crosstransceiver in hand, trying to call out. She called Steven first but to her utter surprise, he didn't answer.

"Arceus, please don't be on the phone calling for reinforcements already…" Delaney muttered. She slowed down a bit, huffing and puffing, as she scrolled down to find Riley's number. Sawyer caught up to her.

"You're… fast," Sawyer muttered breathlessly.

Delaney chuckled, thinking of the days after the Spear Pillar when all she had done was go running around route 212, sometimes with Blitzkrieg, her infernape from her Sinnoh days, in tow. "Not anymore," she said. She held the Crosstransceiver up to her ear until she heard a _hello. _She pulled it away to see Riley's confused face.

"Riley!" she cried breathlessly. "Tell Steven… Not to call… back-up. I'm on my way! I'm sorry!"

"Steven's not here and I kind of lost track of time, so you're fine," the dark-haired boy said good-naturedly. "Atticus just got here, so we're just chatting. You don't have to run, Del, but thanks for calling."

Delaney slowed down, trying to catch her breath. "You… didn't call for reinforcements?" she asked.

"No, we've had… other things to deal with. I'll tell you about them when you get back," Riley said. "I'll see you in a moment."

"Thanks, Riley," Delaney said and with a smile, Riley hung up the phone. Delaney paused and stood for a moment, trying to gain her bearings. Sawyer joined her, also completely winded.

"We're not in trouble, are we?" he asked wheezily.

"No, we're fine… We're good… We made it!" Delaney said excitedly , wrapping her arms around Sawyer in the world's biggest hug. "Oh Arceus, Sawyer, we made it." It seemed like a rather big accomplishment after the panicking in the lower level of the cave. Thank Arceus for Jenna coming around when she did.

But what in the world happened that made Riley lose track of time? And why did Steven leave? It had to be something big… The brunette sighed and began walking across the beach, Dewford Town just up ahead.

* * *

Brody had met Brawly in Granite Cave many years ago, when he was a particularly large makuhita with impulse-control issues and Brawly was an adolescent with a bad haircut who was eager to learn all he could from his fighting-type mentor, Creed, who had left his gym to him in retirement. Creed had passed away a few years prior, but Brawly and Brody still thought of him often. In fact, Brawly's quarters remained decorated mostly the same as when Creed was running the Dewford Gym, mainly out of fondness for the mentor that had inspired Brawly so much. All that had changed in all that time was the vast collection of surfboards that had collected over the years.

Now a hariyama, Brody had planted himself by the fire, sitting on a plush red footstool with his left arm in a sling and an uncomfortable look on his face. Brawly was now back and had a seat in the crimson velvet chair right next to his companion pokemon. On a matching couch was Atticus at one end and Jackson at the other end. Riley had taken a post in the other armchair, opposite Brawly. There was just one seat vacant, one more spot on the couch reserved for Delaney. And though Atticus and Brawly were chatting casually about Brody's injury and the rehab he would have to go through to be able to use his shoulder and arm at full capacity again, Riley was beginning to wonder just where Delaney was.

Of course, as soon as he began to worry, the brunette strode in the room, her brown hair matted and haphazardly thrown into a ponytail and her t-shirt and shorts covered in blood. Even so, Riley still had to do a double-take at her appearance. His minor surprise, of course, was nothing compared to the shock of his three colleagues. "Delaney, are you alright?" Atticus asked, jumping up to assist the younger girl if need be.

"Yeah it's… It's not mine," she said with a grimace. Clearly, Riley hadn't told them what had happened in the cave.

"Hey dally, do you want to take a shower or something before this meeting gets crackin?" Brawly asked, both out of concern for her and his furniture.

"Oh yeah, Arceus, I'm a mess," she said with a sigh.

"Where's Sawyer?" Riley asked.

"He's already at the Pokemon Center," she explained. "We're going to stay there tonight and fly back to Evergrande in the morning."

Riley nodded. "We'll wait for you," he assured her. "Go ahead and clean up. You've had a rough day."

'That's an understatement,' Delaney thought wryly. She followed Brawly as he led her through his quarters to a large bathroom.

"Do you need some clothes?" Brawly asked, gesturing at laundry basket of assorted clothes. "I keep this around for the surf gypsies… Since they don't go home."

"That would be so great," Delaney said gratefully, holding in a chuckle at his comment about the _surf gypsies. _"Thanks so much, Brawly. I really do appreciate it."

"Later, dally," Brawly said with a sympathetic smile. "Towels are in the cabinet right there. Holler if you need something."

"Thanks Brawly," she said again. His kindness towards a girl he had just met was mainly unwarranted, but still appreciated after the day that Delaney had. Though the idea of just standing in a hot shower for the rest of forever was really tempting, she peeled off her ruined clothes, making a mental note to toss them and climbed in hurriedly. She didn't want to postpone the meeting even further, considering it had already been forced to start later because of her. She focused primarily on washing her hair, trying not to watch as the blood washed down the drain.

She begrudgingly got out and threw on a black v-neck t-shirt and tan shorts from Brawly's assorted collection, grateful that she had clean clothes to change into. She again threw her hair into a quick ponytail and then cleaned up the bathroom, leaving it just as it had been before she had been in there. Total, she had been gone for less than fifteen minutes and when she arrived back in the main room, the guys were discussing how nice Dewford Town looked after Brawly had helped fix things up. They grew quiet when Delaney walked back into the room.

"Feeling better?" Riley asked, offering her a kind smile.

"Yeah, thanks," Delaney muttered. She took the only open seat left, between Jackson and Atticus.

Jackson immediately turned to Riley. "Since she's back, can we get started?" he asked impatiently. _Good to know that some things don't change_.

"Of course," Riley said, clearly surprised at Jackson's level of animosity (though Delaney wasn't). "Delaney, why don't we start by catching everyone up with what happened in the cave? I told Jackson about some of it, but maybe bringing Brawly and Atticus up to speed would be a good idea."

"Well, Team Magma… They're not a problem," Delaney started slowly.

"How do we know this?" Atticus asked her.

"Because there was somebody in there offing Magma grunts," Delaney said bluntly. "I saw two grunts. One of them was still alive when we got there but he was dead by the time we left. Whoever it was came back to finish him off. There was another female grunt on the lower level who had her head bashed in on the rocks. She was definitely dead."

"You only saw two grunts?" Jackson asked, turning to Delaney.

She swallowed hard. "Uh, yes. I didn't see any more. The grunt I first saw said that there were less than a dozen of them there, and more importantly, that Maxie had never been there."

"And you believe him?" Jackson shot back, a sneer on his face.

"Yes," Delaney fired back quickly. "There were _not_ a ton of Magma grunts there. He said they had tried to make a comeback, but failed. And that… person, whoever they were, seemed pretty set on finishing them off."

"Did you see them?" Riley asked, wide-eyed.

Delaney nodded. "Well, not well. Their back was towards me. All I could really tell was that it was a female."

"Curious," Riley said thoughtfully.

"So Team Magma has totally hell munched and I don't have to barnie with them?" Brawly asked.

Riley nodded. "It doesn't sound like you, uh, need to worry about them. But that means something worse on a larger scale. It means there's something out there that's responsible for this recent spike in crime and we have no idea what we should be looking for."

"Should we be worried about the possibility that Team Galactic is expanding their empire?" Atticus asked. Delaney pursed her lips and stared at her feet. "I'm sorry… I know this is an emotionally charged topic, but in all seriousness, if there's the possibility that they're trying to take over here like they did Unova, shouldn't that be a priority? They've already proven that they're more than capable of a widespread invasion."

"What would Hoenn have to offer them?" Jackson asked. "Being realistic here, of course."

"Another region to add to their collection," Atticus shrugged.

"But think about it. We're rebuilding. We don't have an active gym circuit. We don't have all of our towns completely rebuilt. We don't have some great surplus of food, nor do we have a ton of money, which is pretty obvious considering one of our Elite Four members is concentrating solely on fundraising. We have virtually nothing to offer them," Jackson argued.

"I'm just bringing ideas to the table…" Atticus said. "I just don't know how to explain all of this."

"I know what you mean," Jackson said. "Because seriously, how do you explain someone breaking into the old Aqua base? Or that random break-in in Petalburg? Or somebody stealing from a _food bank_? It's just all messed up."

"A food bank?" Delaney asked, confused. "Who would do that?"

"We don't know," Riley said.

"Some sick bastard who better hope that I don't get my hands on him," Jackson said darkly.

"Well what should I do, brosiah?" Brawly asked.

"There's nothing we can really do until we can figure out what the problem is, unfortunately," Riley said with a frown. "We'll definitely be increasing security patrol in bigger cities. I talked to the police chief over in Rustboro, Joe Aarons, and he said he'll spare whatever men he has to ferry between here and Slateport," he offered to Brawly. "Anderson will be maintaining operations in Mossdeep. I'll help you with Lilycove, Atticus. Jackson, if you could make your presence known in Mauville as well, that would be great. It's a bigger city that could use some help."

"Yeah, I'll see if Old Hugh could watch over Lavaridge for me and I'll spend a couple days down there," Jackson said with a nod.

"Delaney, Steven wants to meet with you tomorrow, but after that, I'd like you to head to Mauville as well," Riley said.

"Whatever you need me to do, Riley," she said, offering the dark-haired young gentleman a small smile.

"Thanks, Delaney," he said, returning the smile. "I don't think there's anything else we can do, you guys… Not right now, at least. Let's call it a night."

"You dudes want to stay at the beachouse?" Brawly offered. "We got a shack at the end of the block for brahs who lost their homes. There's gotta be plenty of room since it's not a freakshow anymore now that people are back in their homes. Save yourselves a long trip."

"Getting back to Lavaridge this late would be a pain… So thanks," Jackson said, offering Brawly the first smile Delaney had ever seen on his face.

"That would be great, Brawly," Riley said appreciatively

"Sha, I'll get the keys," Brawly said, getting up and heading into a back room.

"I'm going to call Steven and let him know what we discussed," Riley said. "And I told him I'd let him know that you were okay, Delaney."

"Thanks, Riley," Delaney said with a smile.

With Riley out on the phone with Steven and Brawly hunting for keys, it left the two gym leaders and Delaney sitting awkwardly on the couch. "I think I'm going to run to the restroom," Atticus said.

"It's back there to the left," Delaney said, pointing down the hall. Atticus hurried in the direction that Delaney pointed… Leaving Delaney and Jackson alone in the main room.

"Shit, I don't have an excuse to leave," Jackson muttered to himself. Seeing as how Delaney was right next to him, though, she heard every word.

"Tell me how you really feel," Delaney said, rolling her eyes. "Listen, Jackson, we need to come to some sort of… mutual neutrality, or something."

"What in the hell are you talking about?" Jackson asked

"Listen, it's pretty obvious that you hate me and I'm not gonna lie, I'm not very fond of you either… But we're going to have to be working together and it looks like we're both going to be in Mauville-"

"It's a big city," Jackson interrupted.

"_Regardless_," she said, gritting her teeth. "We're going to have to at least tolerate each other if we're going to work together."

"I think I did a pretty good job of pretending," Jackson said.

"Arceus, stop being an ass and let's agree to be civil for the sake of our working relationship," Delaney snapped.

"Did you just call me an ass?" Jackson asked incredulously.

"I could really call you a lot worse right now," she said sourly.

"Oh no, I know I'm an ass. I'm just surprised that you said it," Jackson said, looking mildly impressed.

"Don't test me," Delaney said, only half-kidding. "So _please_- I'm not going to beg because I do have some dignity, but I would really appreciate not walking around eggshells around you. I'm not asking you to be my friend here. I don't think I want to be your friend anyways. I just want one less thing to have to worry about… Please?"

Jackson was quiet for a moment, and Atticus came back in the room with Brawly in tow. "I've got the keys. Yo, dally, you said you're already set at the Pokemon Center, right?"

"Yeah," Delaney said with a small smile. "I think I'll go now, actually."

"Let me walk you to the door," Jackson said, surprising absolutely everyone, but especially Delaney.

"Um… Okay," she said hesitantly. "It was nice to see you again, Atticus. And it was really nice to meet you, Brawly. Thanks for everything."

"Sha, dally," Brawly said with a kind smile. "You should come back in later. Learn the Aloha Spirit and catch some waves."

"That sounds fun, but I should warn you, I'm kind of a klutz," Delaney said with a chuckle.

"I'll make a salty sister out of you!" Brawly said with a big grin.

Riley was heading back in as Delaney was preparing to step through the door. "Are you leaving?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, I should, especially if I have a meeting with Steven tomorrow," she said with a slight grimace. "Do you know what it's about?"

"No idea," Riley said with a shrug. "He just asked if I would pass the message along to you."

"No worries," Delaney said. "Thanks for letting me know."

"I'll let you get back to the Pokemon Center," Riley said. He seemed to notice Jackson for the first time at that point. "Are you going with her?"

Delaney's eyes widened. "Arceus, no," she said quickly. "We just needed to, uh… finish up our conversation."

Riley shot the two of them a confused look, no doubt thinking of the earlier hostility displayed by Jackson. "Uh… sure, okay," Riley said. "I'm going to go back in and talk to Brawly then. It was good to see you, Delaney. I'm sure we'll cross paths soon. Call me if you need anything."

"Good to see you as well, Riley," Delaney with a smile, waving to him as he disappeared back inside.

"Man, for wanting to be civil, that was kind of harsh," Jackson said, raising his eyebrows. "You seemed quite repulsed there."

Delaney began to laugh. "What, you don't want him getting the idea that we actually get along, do you?"

"You know, you may have just a little bit more of a backbone than I gave you credit for," Jackson said.

"Aww, thanks, Jackson. That's actually the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Delaney said with a grin.

"I don't forgive you for being here and not in Sinnoh, you know," Jackson said pointedly. "But I understand… Kinda. I tried to fight back all I could and… I failed too. I almost got my pokemon taken away."

Delaney's eyes widened. "Really? Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Because it wasn't really your business, and it's still not," Jackson said with a shrug. "But… I just thought you should know that. Just like you said, we're not going to be friends but I guess I can refrain from being an asshole when other people are around."

"Oh, you sweetheart," Delaney said sarcastically.

"You know me, just a big teddy bear," Jackson deadpanned.

"Absolutely," Delaney said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm going to leave now. Thank you for about three minutes of not being an asshole and I'm sure I'll be forced to see you soon."

"I-" Jackson began.

"Don't ruin it, Jackson," Delaney smirked. "Goodbye."

* * *

After setting up the gym leaders and Riley in rooms in the temporary housing building, Brawly returned to his quarters in the gym. It had been a long day, after all, one he was happy was over. While it was reassuring that Team Magma was not reorganizing right under his thumb, the idea that there was a greater threat out there made him uneasy. Seeing what had happened to Brody that day was horrible- he had never wanted to see one of his pokemon in such peril. The idea that the worse was yet to come… Well, he really didn't want to think of that.

Just as he did every night, he turned on the television to watch the news. Tonight, certainly, there would be a piece on the food bank incident, more than likely accompanied by a speech by Steven. Maybe they had found the person who did it, but it was unlikely- whoever this was, they were doing their best not to get caught.

What Brawly did not expect to see- what nobody expected to see- was a breaking news report about none other than Unova. The report was from Johto, seeing as how Unova's media networks weren't broadcasting at the moment.

"Good evening all, this is Audrey Neal reporting to you from Goldenrod City. We've just received news that the region of Unova, which has been in a state of chaos since being overtaken by Teams Plasma and Galactic three years ago, is under attack. Much of northern Unova has been frozen over, with record low temperatures being recorded in Opelucid City, Lacunosa Town and Humilau City. The weather is far more extreme than normal winter weather in the Unova region. An unidentified aircraft was spotted overhead before the temperatures started to drop, so it is possible that these were pre-meditated attacks. We cannot currently get closer to Unova to determine anything further. This is Audrey Neal reporting from Goldenrod City. Good night."

* * *

**Author's Note (12/28/12): **WHAT?! It only took me ten days to post a new chapter?! That must be some kind of record, right? It's almost like I had a bunch of time off that I could dedicate to writing! What gives?

That, my friends, is exactly the case. My place of employment is actually closed until the 2nd of January so I have a full week of nothingness to just spend writing, which I have been. 11 has been done for a few days and I've just been waiting to get the chapter back from my beta, 12 is also complete and in the beta stage and 13 is about half done as well so... no long breaks in updating for awhile! WOOOOOOO!

Thank you, thank you, thank you as always, to YOU, wonderful readers. I so appreciate that you sit down to read this story whenever I squeak out updates, so thanks for coming back for more!

I wanted to answer one question I got in case any of the rest of you were wondering about Brawly's characterization. First off, I'm in Colorado, so I'm land-locked, and I've never even seen the ocean in person, so I'm no native to surf-speak. As far as my choice to characterize Brawly as a surfer... So before I acquired such an awesome beta in Noteleks, I started off as her beta, for her GSTA series (which is incredible, just by the way- shameless plug there), where she characterized Brawly as a surfer in the Hoenn arc. Based off of the character artwork for Hoenn, the scant characterization we get when the player battles him and the secluded island location of Dewford, this makes a lot of sense, so I went by that as well.

**Noteleks** helped immensely with all of the surf-speak, which I researched but sucked at using, so big thanks for all the help with that... And a big thanks in general for being an excellent beta. :)

And thank you to **GrossGirl18** for sending me Jenna, who I thought was an excellent OC. (: You'll be seeing her again!

Chapter 12 should be out by no later than next Wednesday. Just for the record, if you're ever curious about my progress in writing, I detail where I'm at in the writing stage of SYOF on my profile page so... Yep.

Thanks again you guys, and see ya next week! (:

~DAT


	13. 12: Someone Anyone

_A first... I could tell you lots of "firsts". Like my first boyfriend- Jeff Poole in the first grade. He gave me a cupcake for my birthday and told me that my hair was pretty. Or you know, my first kiss- Andrew Mularkey by the basketball court, right before he moved to Olivine. There was my first best friend, Tinsley Pemberton, and my first "love"- which would be Alex. My first pokemon, my first badge, the first time I came across Team Galactic...  
_

_Or I could talk about the first time I saw one of my pokemon poisoned or severely injured in battle and how much that terrified me, to the point that Gardenia had to pause our battle to calm me down because I was crying so hard. I could even tell you about the first time I saw one of my pokemon died.  
_

_But there's a first time for everything, right?_**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Someone Anyone**

A certain auburn-haired boy was out at the pool early the next morning, dipping his feet in the cool water while fiddling with a Crosstransceiver. It was already pretty warm out despite the early hour, meaning the day was probably going to be extremely hot, even by Hoenn's standards. As he scrolled through the contacts of the Crosstransceiver, a particularly energetic gyarados swam near him. A flick of his large tail sent a splash of water in Sawyer's direction. The curly-haired boy dove to make sure not a drop got on the Crosstransceiver. "Fluffy, you have to be careful where you're splashing," he scolded lightly. "Delaney will kill me if I get this wet."

In all honesty, Delaney would probably kill him for having her Crosstransceiver period, but what she didn't know didn't hurt her. She had a busy day in front of her anyways, and Sawyer needed the communicative device far more than she did. Just last night, with the help of Delaney's extensive contact list, he had accomplished quite a bit, but he still needed a bit more help.

"Bingo!" he said with a grin. He pressed the call button, but the Crosstransceiver had frozen up. The smile wiped off of Sawyer's face. Arceus, if he had accidentally broken it, Delaney would have his head…

But it wasn't broken- she was receiving an incoming call. The arrogant grin of Nick Grimm filled the screen. Sawyer rolled his eyes and pressed ignore quickly. This was definitely one call that was going to voicemail.

* * *

"That little bitch! That was the third one," the burgundy-haired young woman swore angrily. "She's definitely ignoring your calls. What did you do to her?"

"Nothing!" Nick exclaimed. "I did nothing. Everything seemed fine yesterday morning when she left."

"Well obviously something happened," Malonie snapped. "Do you think she figured it out?"

"And how might that have happened?" Nick asked, narrowing his gray eyes.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe one of her Elite Four buddies knows something," Malonie said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "I told you this was a bad idea."

"Well, hypothetically, what if she does know something?" Nick asked, glaring at Malonie. "What do we do then?"

"We consider you a failure and start putting _my_ plan in action, just like we should've done from the very beginning," she said, a dark look in her cat-like green eyes. "Time to start making some calls."

* * *

There had never been a clock that moved as slowly as this one.

Or at least that was how Delaney felt as she sat in a plush leather chair that was exactly one large oak desk away from Steven Stone, who sat in an even more plush chair, one that probably spun around and maybe even reclined. A few weeks ago, Delaney would've been overjoyed to be sitting in the office of Steven Stone, but the blank look on his face and the fact that he hadn't said anything beyond "hello" was starting to really freak Delaney out. Perhaps her insistence on going in the cave the day before meant that she was in real trouble. Perhaps _he knew_ that she hadn't been back at the gym precisely two hours before, despite Riley telling her not to worry about it.

So Delaney sat there, looking at Steven, and then looking everywhere but Steven when his expression (or lack thereof) became worrisome to the brunette. Finally, after what seemed like years of silence, Delaney broke the ice. "Steven, sir, can I ask what this meeting is about?"

"I thought I told you not to call me sir," he said, his face finally cracking a smile. Delaney nearly sighed in relief, but she held it in for the sake of her dignity. "Delaney, you've been doing a great job here, have I told you that?"

"Um, thanks," Delaney said, twiddling her thumbs nervously. Where was this leading. "Is there a _but_?" There was silence again and then, Steven slowly nodded. "Of course," Delaney said to herself. "There always is."

"I'm worried about you," Steven said.

"Worried?" Delaney asked, raising her eyebrows. She definitely thought this was leading to punishment, not concern. "Does this have to do with yesterday?"

"No, I've been worried, Delaney," Steven said, his smile giving way to a slight frown. "Dr. Reynolds told me you haven't been to see her again since you initially met."

"I didn't realize that my going to see her was such a strict rule," Delaney said quietly.

"It's not a rule, and I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're an adult and I'm not one of your parents. However, I would really like for all of you to be seeing her regularly."

Delaney looked to her feet. "With all due respect, Steven, I'm not planning on going back."

"Can I ask why?" Steven asked.

"I don't need her asking questions about things that I'm just not ready to talk about and I don't want her inside my head," Delaney said, still continuing to avoid Steven's questioning gaze.

"She won't force you to talk about anything you don't want to, Delaney," he said quietly.

"Everybody has questions about what happened," Delaney said, her tone tinged with bitterness. "They came up before and they'll come up again and I don't want to talk about it. It happened. It's over. And I hate that I failed and I don't want to fail anybody again so I just… I don't want to talk about any of it."

There was another long silence. "Did you see the news report last night?"

"No, but everyone is talking about it," Delaney muttered.

"You know, if you did want to go over there… I'd let you go," Steven offered. "I don't want to get rid of you by any means, but I definitely would support you going over there."

Delaney's head snapped up and she looked Steven in the eyes. "While I appreciate that, you know it'd be crazy for me to go over there. Cyrus would be overjoyed that I walked right into his home base and he'd have me killed within five minutes."

"I wish I could help," Steven said wistfully. "I wish there was some way we could send help into Sinnoh and Unova, but there's just never been a right time to do it. We were left so vulnerable after the attacks by Team Magma and Team Aqua that we had to rebuild. There was no way we could help anybody else when we were so fragile ourselves. And now… We have whatever this security issue is and there's no way we can spare anybody."

"I understand that," Delaney said quietly, nodding. "I really do, Steven. Rebuilding has been no small task. I don't envy you in the slightest for having to be in charge of it all."

"Somebody had to be," Steven said with a small chuckle. "I'm frustrated… I feel like we've gotten so much accomplished, but with this new threat on the horizon, it feels almost like we're backsliding."

"We'll figure out what's going on, Steven. Riley is good at what he's doing and he's trying really hard to get everything under control," Delaney said.

"Oh, it's not Riley I'm worried about… It's whoever these people are. We have no idea what they're capable of, and that's quite scary," Steven said with a sigh.

"We'll get them," Delaney said reassuringly. It was quite an odd situation- Delaney, trying to reassure Steven Stone that everything would be okay, talking like they were best pals. She wasn't sure quite what to make of it. "Have there been any leads in the food bank break-in?"

Steven shook his head. "There was one possible suspect, but he had an alibi and people to vouch for him and no concrete evidence, so we're back to square one." He was quiet again for a moment. "Did Riley give you instructions for your next job?"

"Jackson and I are supposed to be in Mauville," she said, nodding.

"I guess I should let you get to Mauville then," Steven said. "I just wanted to check in with you. I don't get to talk to any of you one-and-one really, and yesterday was kind of hectic." He paused. "Will you consider talking to Dr. Reynolds again? Please?"

"I'll consider it," Delaney said with a sigh, even though she wasn't intending to consider it in the slightest. She couldn't flagrantly disobey Steven Stone, though, right?

"Thank you," Steven said. He got up from his extremely comfortable looking chair and went to stand by Delaney, patting her on the shoulder. "I do appreciate all you've done, Delaney."

"Thanks," she said, though she really didn't think that she had done much besides talking to gym leaders and examining buildings. "I think I should get going."

"Of course," Steven said. "Call if you need anything."

With that, Delaney stepped out of the office of Steven Stone and stood outside for a moment, thinking. Yes, she had to head to Mauville, but… A certain Nascence base (and Nascence member) happened to be rather close to the city. Was Nick at the base? Maybe it would be better to call and check, since she didn't want to run into the chance that it was just Malonie and Ren hanging out or something to that effect. She reached into her bag and reached around for her Crosstransceiver… But it was nowhere to be found.

Frowning, she grabbed the bag from off her shoulder and looked inside, but it was nowhere. She rustled through the many items inside, but the Crosstransceiver wasn't under anything. It wasn't in any pockets. It was gone. Where could she have possibly left it?

Maybe she had simply left it in the room in the Pokemon Center in Dewford. She'd have to give Sawyer a call once she got to the Mauville Pokemon Center (with the crazy nurse's aide that screamed whenever Delaney walked in, she realized with a cringe) to see if he had grabbed it for her, and if he hadn't, maybe Brawly would be willing to go check for her.

She grimaced and then grabbed Grace's pokéball. She would go to Mauville first, check in with Jackson and then figure out a way to get away for a couple hours. Maybe there would be something she could do to help The Nascence out from Mauville. And maybe she would get lucky and find someone happy to see her when she arrived. She could use a nice smile.

* * *

The look on Jackson's face could best be described as cross. His dark brown eyes flickered with irritation as Delaney walked in the door. She frowned at him as she took the seat next to him, but that frown quickly turned to a cringe with the high-pitched_ "oh my Arceus, she's back!" _that followed her entrance. Jackson chuckled to himself. "Sounds like you have quite a fan club here."

Delaney wrinkled her nose. "I hate it when people freak out like that. Do you ever get that?"

"Oh no, not even remotely," Jackson said. "Most of the people I come in contact with aren't too excited that I'm a gym leader."

Delaney laughed. "Oh yeah, that's right. I can't say it seemed like you were too popular there."

"I'm a horrible gym leader," Jackson said with a shrug. "I definitely wasn't cut out to be one. I'm sure I'd be even worse if I was really a gym leader and I had to battle and everything."

"Really?" Delaney asked. "Somehow I would imagine that's where you'd excel."

"I don't like to lose," the sandy-haired gym leader shrugged. "And I've been told my style is a bit too… intense for younger trainers. I'd probably piss off half and scare off the other half."

"I'm not going to lie, you've piqued my curiosity and I kind of want to battle you now," Delaney said. "But I don't think I would've wanted to back when I was on the gym circuit."

"Maybe some time I'll take you up on that," Jackson said with a nod. "Definitely not now. That shrieking girl with the pink hair has been giving me a headache for the last half hour."

Delaney looked over at the counter, where the magenta-haired nurse continued to shoot Delaney and Jackson glances. "So what exactly are we supposed to be doing?"

"Riley just said to make our presence known," Jackson said. "I think he's hoping that anybody considering crime will think twice knowing that a gym leader and an Elite Four member are here. I don't agree with that at all, but I'm not going to argue. I think we've made our presence pretty well known though, especially you. I was thinking about heading to the game corner myself."

_Perfect!_ "I have something to take care of. Do you just want to meet back here in a couple hours?"

"Uh yeah, sounds fine," he said, getting up and heading to the door. He held it open for her. "Is this an Elite Four thing you need to do?"

Delaney raised her eyebrows at him as she walked outside. "Nope, just something personal," she said evasively. "But look at you with your manners. This is new."

Jackson rolled his eyes at her. "Have fun… doing whatever it was you're doing," he said, giving her a two-finger wave as he began to walk in the direction of the Game Corner.

"Whatever," Delaney muttered, heading east towards Route 118. The water would definitely feel nice with how hot it was outside. Hopefully it would be cool inside the Nascence base.

* * *

It took Delaney less time than she expected to reach The Nascence headquarters. She continued to hope to Arceus that it was Nick inside, or at least somebody friendly like Jody or Kirari, or basically anybody besides Malonie or Ren, or even worse, both. She jogged up to the nearly hidden entrance and felt around for the small notch in the door that allowed her entrance into the secret base that served as The Nascence's meeting place.

She frowned, finding that her fingers weren't coming across the notch as easily as they had the other night. She ran her hand down the trunk of the tree, desperately searching for the cleverly disguised knob to the door, but she wasn't finding it. "What the hell…" she muttered to herself.

"I see you couldn't resist coming back," a male's voice said behind her. She turned around with a smile to greet Nick, who could surely point out where she had gone wrong in locating the entrance.

It was not Nick behind her though, but instead, the dark-haired Cam, who had a stony look on his face. "Oh hi Cam! I'm having trouble finding the door handle. I could swear it was about here, but maybe I'm just imagining things…"

"There is no handle. This has been officially deactivated as a base," he said. Delaney realized that he actually didn't have his usually stony look on his face after all- in fact, he was downright glaring at her.

"Oh… I guess I missed that call," she said sheepishly, chuckling a bit. "I lost my Crosstransceiver."

"You didn't get the call," Cam said. "You're not one of us."

Delaney's smile quickly wiped away. "Oh… I'm sorry to assume-"

"You know, I thought Malonie and Ren were too harsh on you," Cam said. "I can see their point that you should be there, but at the same time, I felt sorry for you. I know what Team Galactic is capable of. They gave me these scars. They're the reason why Mufasa can no longer see. I could understand why you would be afraid to cross their path again. But Arceus be damned, they were _right about you."_

"What?" Delaney said, shocked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Malonie told us," he said. "You ratted us out to that fancy new Elite Four security team. Told them we were a gang and for what? For a little more prestige with the Elite Four?"

Delaney's mouth dropped open. "What?! I never did that. I've never _ever_ thought of The Nascence as a gang and I haven't even mentioned any of you to anybody in the Elite Four. I'm on your side! Ask Nick, he'll tell you!"

"I seriously doubt that," Cam said. "Not with as mad as he was. Arceus, Delaney, he liked you and you sold him out. He's crushed."

"I didn't-" Delaney started.

"A member of that security squad came to our meeting. They tried to pin him for robbing a _food bank._ When we've donated so much to those food banks to try and help those who came over from Unova and Sinnoh! And Nick is the one who started all of that!" he exploded. The usually calm and quiet guy was clearly furious. "Luckily Malonie was with Nick at the time of the robbery and Ren was able to vouch for them, otherwise they would've taken him in. I just can't believe you would sell us down the river like that."

"Cam, I swear, I didn't!" Delaney pleaded. "I've wanted to help you guys ever since Nick told me about you. I believe in what you stand for. I wouldn't do something like that. I mean, I _like _Nick. Please, could I just maybe talk to everyone and try to explain? Maybe we can find the real person who sold you out. I can talk to Riley and see who gave him Nick's name."

"I'm not telling you where our new base is," Cam said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Can you get everyone together at the Mauville Pokemon Center then in an hour? Give me five minutes to try to explain?" she asked.

"I'll talk to them and see who's willing to come, but Malonie and Nick especially were upset," Cam said.

"I can't blame Nick for being mad," Delaney said with a sigh. "I just wish he knew that I wouldn't do something like that. I wish _everyone_ knew I wouldn't do something like that."

"I'm not saying I believe you," Cam said, glaring at her again. "But I'm going to give you one last chance to prove you're alright."

"I won't ruin it," she said. "Thank you."

"I'll see you in an hour," he said before releasing a staraptor and flying away.

* * *

The doors to the main lobby barely opened as the tall, lanky girl walked through them. Her light blonde hair was straight and hit the middle of her back and her blue eyes sparkled. Her plain pink t-shirt and white skirt hugged her thin frame and the white sneakers on her feet were worn down- clearly the shoes of a trainer. She strode up to the main desk, where Brenna stood staring at her. She had definitely never walked through those doors before. "Hi! I'm here to see Sawyer Hale."

"Sure," Brenna said, forcing a smile and hoping that this was just a friend of his, or even better, a sister or a cousin. "I'll take you to his room."

She led the girl down the hallways until she reached the room and knocked on the door. Sawyer answered with his usual large grin. "Thanks, Brenna!"

A blush spread across her cheeks. "You're welcome, Sawyer! Call if you need anything."

The attendant let the door close behind her as a look of excitement came across the girl's face as she spotted someone familiar sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen you!" the boy said loudly as he got up to give her a hug.

The green scarf he had once loved so much was now gone (in the three and a half years since she had seen him, it had probably gone out of fashion). His orange and white striped polo shirt seemed almost too short on his long torso and his jeans barely covered his hiking boots. In addition to his changes in wardrobe, his hair seemed much shorter than it had been and he seemed at least three inches taller than he had been the last time she had seen him. "Dax, what are you doing here?"

"Well, my dear Annette, I believe we both got the same call," Dax said, turning his copper-colored eyes to Sawyer. "It was a total bitch to get out of Sinnoh, but I don't care. We're here to help so… Tell us what we need to do."

* * *

Delaney walked through the doors of the Pokemon Center wearily, expecting to find the entirely of The Nascence in the lobby waiting for her. Instead, she found a pacing Jackson, who bolted to her the second she stepped through the door. They both ignored the delighted chirps of the Pokemon Center attendant, despite the fact that she had seen Delaney earlier. "Why have you not been answering my calls?" Jackson asked, the look on his face dark.

Delaney sighed. It would definitely been nice to have been greeted by anything but another glare. "I'm not sure what happened to my Crosstransceiver. I think I may have left it in Dewford."

"Well that explains why Steven called me and not you directly," Jackson muttered. "Do you know where Fortree is? Well… used to be?"

Delaney shook her head. "No, Steven told me not to worry about going there because Flannery is in charge."

"Well it sounds like there's trouble there and Flannery called Steven for help. He wants back-up and Riley is busy, so he's been trying to get you on the line. Call him." He shoved his Crosstransceiver at her.

Delaney winced. Whatever was going on definitely did not sound good. She quickly scrolled through Jackson's contacts until she found Steven and dialed. He answered almost immediately. "Oh thank Arceus, Delaney."

"What's wrong?" Delaney asked.

"I need your help with a situation. I know Riley asked you to be in Mauville, but it's urgent. I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't," he said. For the first time since Delaney had met him, Steven actually sounded… flustered.

"I'm here to help, Steven. What do you want me to do?" she asked, trying to remain calm so that she didn't worry Steven even more.

"Do you know where… No, you don't know where Fortree is. You know, I think it would be easier if I just swing by and grab you. Mauville isn't too far out of the way." Delaney was pretty sure he was talking to himself more than her.

"Is there anywhere specifically in Mauville that I could meet you that would make your life easier?" Delaney asked. "What if I met you out at whatever route borders Fortree?"

"Route 119 would be the closest to Mauville…" he muttered to himself. "Do you know where Route 118 is? Just outside of Mauville?"

"Yes! I can run there right now!" Delaney said.

"Excellent. I'm in Lilycove, so it won't be a particularly long wait. Be there and be waiting _please_." And with that, Steven hung up.

"I know, I got the gist, it's an emergency," Jackson said with a sigh. "Go ahead and go. I'll tell Riley if he calls."

"Thanks!" Delaney said as she strode through the lobby. With her crazy arrival, Delaney nearly forgot until she was almost out the door that The Nascence was supposed to be there soon. "Hey!" she said. The sandy-haired gym leader turned back.

"Can I help you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"There are going to be some people looking for me. I need you to tell them that I had an emergency and I had to go," Delaney said. "Please, it's really important. I don't want them to think I just ditched out."

Jackson sighed. "Go do what you need to do and I'll take care of the rest, but I'm pretty sure you owe me."

"Thanks!" she said, grateful for Jackson for the first (and likely only) time ever. She let the doors to the Pokemon Center slam behind her as she ran out into the cool evening air towards Route 118.

* * *

**Author's Note (1/01/13): **Happy 2013, all! I hope you all had a fabulous round of holidays, or at the very least some time off to yourselves. I go back to work tomorrow after a week's vacation and let me tell you, I am _super_ bummed out.

In case you don't remember Dax and Annette- Dax is Delaney's best friend from Sinnoh (essentially a characterization of the rival in D/P/P), while Annette was the maid that she had befriended at the beginning of TCatG (the one she talked to about Alex). Like I could do a sequel to TCatG without my second-favorite character Dax. :)

(My first favorite is clearly Sawyer.)

You can expect consistent updates for at _least_ the next month or so. Chapters will be posted sometime in the beginning of the week- think Sunday through Wednesday. Sometime in that period.

I would also like to point out the rating of this story, which is T. From the next chapter on, you will see this story utilizing the rating a _lot_ more. It may even go up (though I don't think it will). Just be forewarned. :)

Thanks, as always, to my wonderful beta, **Noteleks.******

And thanks to all of my wonderful readers! :) I cannot even begin to tell you how grateful I am for you all.

There... is uh, going to be a sequel (well a half sequel... a spin-off?) to this story, I have decided. If you're curious, you can find the information on my profile page, along with info on another story I'm in the process of planning (though I'm not starting anything new until a huge chunk of SYOF is out of the way).

Soooo feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter, and see you next week, lovely readers! Chapter 13... I have been waiting for it for a long time. :)

~DAT


	14. 13: All These Things That I've Done

_I haven't celebrated my birthday in years. When I was in Johto, I missed each one, forgetting that it was even the right month until a couple days, a week, or even two weeks had passed._

_The last one I remember was in Sinnoh, in Veilstone. It had been a long day and I returned to the Pokemon Center to get a room. The nurse on duty asked to see my trainer ID, so I handed it to her, and when I did, she squealed, "Happy birthday, Miss Caldwell!" to which an excited voice behind me asked, "It's your birthday?!"_

_I looked back, unamused, to see the stupid blonde boy with his stupid scarf. Because__**, of course**__, it couldn't have been Professor Rowan's cute assistant, Lucas, or an old friend from school, or really just anybody that I liked in general. No, it __**had**__ to be this kid that I couldn't stand who strode up to me purposefully and said, "After my pokemon are healed, you and I are celebrating," and wouldn't take no for an answer._

_He chattered the whole way to this expensive French restaurant where we sat down and only had dessert and wine. "How old are you again?" I asked nervously when the waiter brought it, though it was a stupid question because I knew he was about my age. I switched tactics as he poured a glass for himself. "Dax, I'm pretty sure this is illegal. In fact, I'm more than pretty sure."_

"_Delaney, stop worrying," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm the great Palmer's son, and you are my lovely friend celebrating her birthday and nobody's going to do a damn thing about it." He gave me a mischievous glance as he took a sip and then winced. "You know, this stuff may be a little overrated."_

_I laughed and laughed and laughed. That was when I realized that Dax Briley was the best friend I would ever have and without him and his wine and his fancy dessert, birthdays never meant as much. But mainly it was the absence of him._

* * *

**Chapter 13: All These Things That I've Done**

The storms had reduced the city of Fortree to nothing more than mud, branches and broken glass. The pokemon that used to play hide-and-seek in the tree town left soon after the storms- if they hadn't perished along with the residents of the town. Only recently were new buildings starting to come up (one of them a Pokemon Center!) and people had warily been popping in to see the progress. Nobody had given up hope that Fortree could be fully functional again- that it could be the same beautiful city that it once had been.

Nobody until Flannery, as she watched desperately as the new Pokemon Center she had worked so hard on getting up and running went up in flames.

Franklin, her torkoal, looked up at her apologetically. He hadn't meant to start the building on fire- he had been aiming for the smug shelgon across the way who had thrown up a forcefield to protect himself, sending the embers in all different directions. The shelgon and the shuckle gave each other proud looks, the ones you would expect from longtime teammates, except between these two specific pokemon, the comradery was kind of unnerving. "It's okay, Franklin, I know," Flannery said reassuringly.

And then out of left field came the dragonbreath, which just barely missed hitting her instead. Franklin collapsed. Next to him, Luna, her houndoom, winced from the pain of the poison coursing through her body. "Come on, _Elite __Four member _Flannery, we're in the middle of a battle!"

But now Franklin had been knocked out and Luna was in far too much pain to concentrate on sending out attacks at the shelgon or shuckle and Flannery sighed as she returned the two to their pokèballs. In their place, she sent out her magmortar and camerupt.

_Arceus, where was Steven?_

"Steven, what's going on?" Delaney tried to yell over the roar of the wind as they soared through the air. "What happened?"

"Don't hold on too tightly," he called back instead. "The steel feathers might cut you."

"Steven, _what happened?" _she asked anxiously. It was then that the idea of death had snuck back into the picture. "Fortree... Flannery's in charge still, right? Flannery isn't hurt, is she?" Goosebumps covered her arms, but they weren't from the chill in the air. _She isn't… dead, is she?_

"She's fine," Steven said dismissively. "But she might not be if we don't hurry up."

"Is this… Is this the threat we were worried about?" Delaney asked, officially beginning to panic. Were they about to come face-to-face with whatever had been terrorizing Hoenn from the shadows?

Steven's skarmory began a downward descent, and Delaney already didn't like what she was seeing- there were flames below. As Skarmory landed, Flannery ran over to them, a sob escaping from her throat as the buildings around her that had once composed the town she had worked so hard to rebuild were going up in flames.

"Shit," Delaney muttered as she climbed off of the skarmory. She glanced around at the damage already done. _Well… We could at least try to contain it. _She hurriedly reached into her bag and found Perry's pokeball. If anyone could quell the flames, it was Perry. She released the samurott, who looked around in confusion. "Perry, we need your help," Delaney told him.

"Ott," Perry said, giving her confirmation that he knew exactly what she meant. He let out a spray of water at the nearest building to show that he meant business.

"Great," Delaney said. _One problem down and surely many more to go._

Flannery had finally finished telling her tale to Steven, who had a very nervous look on his face as Delaney rejoined him. "Flannery, I want you to take Neron to Mauville. Go heal your team and get in contact with Riley," Steven said urgently. Neron, Steven's skarmory, looked at Flannery and gave a quick nod, as if to confirm that he wanted to help her.

The red-haired young woman hastily returned the magmortar and camerupt that were out and nodded at him. "Thank you, Steven," she said, her tears coming freely again, before climbing on Neron's back to fly away.

Steven tossed out onto the battlefield a large and already very angry aggron, who narrowed his eyes at the shuckle and shelgon in front of him.

Delaney was paying far more attention to Perry's torrents of water than to her impending battle. She had noted the figures of two people with pokemon in front of them when they had landed, but she had been far more worried about trying to save what she could of the burning town than whoever those two people were. Maybe she had wanted some time before seeing the face of this new threat (Delaney was certain this was _it_, because Steven hadn't answered her when she had asked), maybe she had just wanted to make the look of desperation on Flannery's face as she looked at the flames go away, but regardless, she just cared that some of the red-haired girl's hard work was not in vain. She wanted to save what she could.

"Del, I could use your help," Steven said, his voice as calm as ever. Never once had he called her Del. It had _always _been Delaney, or even Miss Caldwell.

That was how she first knew they were in trouble.

And then she heard the drawling voice state, "Champion Steven Stone and his faithful Elite Four lackey Delaney Caldwell! What an _honor!_" and she knew that she was right. They were definitely in trouble.

Delaney whirled around; her eyes beginning to focus on the people whose pokemon were currently hurling attacks at the aggron standing protectively in front of Steven. "Nick? Malonie? What are you _doing?_" she asked incredulously.

"I always knew you liked her for her brain," Malonie said sarcastically. "She really catches on quick."

"I guess she _didn't _know anything," Nick said pointedly. "I told you she didn't."

"Do you… know these people?" Steven asked.

"She sure thought so," Malonie said with a smirk.

"I…" Delaney began. How exactly did she begin to explain The Nascence to Steven- or even worse, how did she even begin to explain _Nick _to Steven? _Oh yeah__, this guy attacking us invited me to be a part of his anti-Galactic group and also, we hooked up. _This would certainly go over well.

"Delaney, call out a pokemon," Steven commanded, ignoring Malonie's toothy grin. Hesitantly, Delaney reached into her bag and released a pokemon, not really focused on who it was. It turned out to be the tenderhearted Synapse who was currently examining her surroundings in horror.

"He already knows, sweetheart. Don't you?" Malonie asked, her eyes trained on Steven.

"About The Nascence? Yes," Steven answered evenly. A sick feeling came to Delaney's stomach. _How much else did he know? _"I also know about the Team Aqua base break-in, setting up Team Magma in Dewford, the break-in in Petalburg and the food bank." Delaney stared at him in astonishment.

Apparently he knew a lot more than she did.

"That's great detective work, Mr. Champion sir!" Malonie said mockingly. "I bet next you're going to get a custom-painted van and start solving mysteries!" With that, she rolled her eyes at the so-called great champion that she was currently unimpressed with and turned to her shuckle. "Let's take care of them just as easily as we took care of that other so-called _Elite Four _member. Use bug bite on that psychic blob."

"Your wit just floors me, Anna Blake," Steven deadpanned. Delaney looked over at him in surprise. _What _had he just called Malonie? When had he found all this out? And why hadn't he told her beforehand? "Helmer, the shuckle's defense is too high, so let's go after the shelgon instead. Use take down."

"Synapse, use reflect to repel some of the damage before that slow turtle thing can get over here!" Delaney called, finally snapping back into the battle after the shock, though a million questions were still swimming through her head. Synapse nodded, as if she understood Delaney's utter confusion, and put up a thin barrier that extended to the aggron as well. "Then use psychic against the shelgon!"

Anna Blake scowled, looking entirely unamused with Steven. "Good work, Steven, but I actually prefer Galactic Commander Rhea."

* * *

_"That man doesn't know a fucking thing." The sun was setting in Canalave City and the boats returned to the harbor. Standing on the bridge was a girl of seventeen, her long burgundy hair rippling in the cool evening breeze. An absol stood by her side, looking up at his trainer questioningly. More than a few pedestrians either gave her a weird look or chose to walk another way. It was unclear if this was because of Anna's absolute rage or the disaster pokemon at her side. "How dare he, Calamity. I've battled that asshole four times and all he can tell me is try harder and train more. I deserve that fucking badge!"_

_"Sol," Calamity nodded vigorously. He knew how fiercely determined his trainer was. He knew how hard she tried to be the best. She had told him many times about how she wanted to battle the Elite Four and become the Champion. It was a dream that all trainers held, right?_

_"I mean, if I can't beat Byron, what the hell am I supposed to do?" Desperation tinged her catlike green eyes. "I mean, sure, I could go battle Candice or even Volkner if I want to, but I can't enter Victory Road without his stupid fucking badge. Why does he want to stand in the way of my dream?"_

_"Abbbb," Calamity said sadly, brushing up against her leg gently._

_"I have trained. I've gone and trained harder and harder each time I've lost. What does he want from me?" she asked, throwing her hands up in the air._

_"He wants you to give up," a voice answered simply. A woman with a crayon-red bob and an odd outfit that looked like spaceman pajamas stood in front of her. Two people stood behind her quietly, though Anna couldn't tell their genders because they both had short teal hair. "Nobody likes to lose, especially people like these gym leaders with grand delusions of power."_

_"Who the hell are you?" Anna asked._

_"Just a friend," the woman said innocently._

_"You're not my friend. Who the hell are you?" Anna repeated._

_"You may call me Mars, dear. Galactic Commander Mars."_

_Anna had heard about Team Galactic, but just briefly. The word evil or bad was not really used in conjunction with them yet, but they were still known as rebels, people that you shouldn't associate with. "You know, my dear, the gym circuit is no place for the truly strong and talented. You battle against these people who act as a litmus test for your ability, then you do the same old with people just a little bit higher-up on the food chain and for what?"_

_"You battle the best to become the best," Anna told her._

_"How is that a measure of your true strength?" she asked. "How does playing type match-ups with some god-complex figurehead really show if you're strong or weak? Yes, you can take down a fire-type with a water-type. Knowing that and earning a badge from that doesn't prove your aptitude as a trainer. A ten year-old who's barely passing trainer's school could tell you that." She lowered her voice. "My apologies, dear, I seem to have gotten a bit heated. The injustice of this current system gets me going. I don't see why a clearly talented young woman like you is being held up from achieving her dreams because Byron is a sore loser."_

_"I'll beat him," Anna told her. "I'm going to be the best one day."_

_"What if I told you I know someone who can make that possible?"_

* * *

"Rhea?" Steven repeated, with a hint of sarcasm to his voice. "Cyrus is getting away from his spaceman theme?" The shelgon had been effective in stopping Helmer from wreaking havoc on it; using zen headbutt to prevent him from charging at the shelgon. Fortunately, the psychic attack did little to damage Helmer and he brushed it off like it was nothing. Unfortunately, the psychic from Synapse had also done very little damage.

"Let's try another zen headbutt at the aggron. He's the real threat!" Nick called out to the shelgon.

"Helmer, use protect," Steven said simply. A thick forcefield went up around the aggron, just as it had around the shelgon earlier in the day when battling Flannery, though this time, the move was not in the shelgon's favor. As he charged headfirst towards the aggron, he bumped into the forcefield at full speed and was thrown back with the rebounding force.

"Rhea is a moon of Saturn," Anna told Steven. "Quite fitting considering who my commanding officer was before he betrayed us… The commanding officer whose spot I took. You know who I'm talking about, right, Delaney?"

Delaney clenched her jaw and swallowed hard. "Another psychic to the shelgon, Synapse," she growled. Might as well kick him when he was down.

"Delaney?" Steven asked hesitantly. "Are you…"

"Okay?" Anna finished tauntingly. "I imagine the wound is still fresh. After all, it's only been like, three years since Cyrus threw him off Dragonspiral Tower, right, _Delly_?"

"Okay, fuck you," Delaney snapped. "Synapse, focus blast at the shuckle!" Synapse, surprised at her trainer's sudden anger, let forth an extremely powerful blast of energy. Because she was nervous and surprised, though, the blast sailed smoothly past the shuckle, who merely blinked at the reuniclus.

"You're so remarkably easy to get worked up," Anna said with a bright smile. "No wonder Cyrus is so invested in you. I can't wait to drag you back to Unova so he can finish you off. Tweedle, let's start tossing out sludge bombs. Start with Miss Delaney's little blob right there."

"You should go after it as well," Nick said to the shelgon. Apparently he now didn't care about attacking the _real threat_, as he had said earlier- he just wanted to kick Delaney while she was down. "Use crunch."

"Don't allow the shelgon near Synapse," Steven ordered Helmer. "Use iron tail and smack it away."

"Dodge them," Delaney said dully. Just the mention of Cyrus had made her feel completely nauseated. She had believed she was coming to Hoenn to get_away_from all of the Galactic business. She had wanted a fresh start, a chance to atone for her mistakes- and it was all coming back to bite her in the ass now. "That Cyrus sure is creative. He chases me to Unova and now he chases me to Hoenn. I don't know why I didn't see it coming."

"Have some respect when speaking of Cyrus!" Anna snapped. "And no, that wasn't our plan, you little twit. Cyrus didn't even know you were here. It just turned out to be a huge bonus for Ben and I."

"Ben," Delaney repeated. Not Nick, the nice guy who always wore polo shirts and a charming smile, but _Ben. _"What's your commander name, _Ben_?"

"He doesn't have one because he's not a part of Team Galactic. Keep on with the sludge bombs, Tweedle!" Anna added hastily. "Ben Darcy is one of the more accomplished con artists of the last decade. Remember the Team Rocket domination of the Silph Company a few years back? Ben was posing as an executive in the company to get them entry."

"Team Galactic is hiring externally now?" Steven asked, stunned. "_Arceus_. Helmer, iron head." Anyone watching could tell that Steven wasn't battling with his full strength- he was far too focused on the conversation. Ben and Anna could tell this and exchanged glances. Anna offered Ben a sly wink.

"Steven, I know you're not the businessman your father is, but even you must know that when you have a job that needs to be done, you need to hire the right person for it. Ben has a… certain set of skills that Galactic sorely needed and Cyrus was willing to pay for them."

"Take the damage for the shuckle. When he gets close to you, use hyper beam," Ben commanded.

"Synapse, use light screen and deflect the beam away from Helmer!" Delaney called frantically. As the reuniclus hurried to put up a shield to try and help her comrade, Delaney looked over to find Steven chuckling. "Um, I'm sorry, is something funny? Something like a shelgon throwing hyper beams everywhere?"

"Delaney, that's just going to bounce right off Helmer like it's nothing. He'll barely even feel it," Steven said with a smirk. Sure enough, the high-powered beam hit Helmer, who looked at it as if it were a pesky bug-type buzzing around his head. What was normally a game-changing move did nothing to affect Helmer. "Dizzy punch the shuckle."

"Make sure he doesn't hit it," Ben ordered. The shelgon dove in front of the aggron's punch. The high-powered attack didn't do much physical damage to the shelgon, but Steven still burst into a large grin anyways, looking like the glameow that ate the starly.

"So if The Nascence wasn't a plot to ensnare Delaney, what was the point of it?" Steven asked.

"To establish public favor within Hoenn before taking the region into our own hands. Steven, I really thought you were smarter than that. You seem to have figured out everything else," Anna said mockingly.

"If you're trying to get public favor, why were you just a small group in a hidden base then?" Delaney asked.

"Humble beginnings, sweetheart," Ben said, speaking up. "We start off modestly with a few dedicated members. We establish ourselves with local businesses, shelters, food banks… By that point, we're established as a charitable foundation, which the public will find appealing. They'll want to know how they can help, if they can join. You get the gist, don't you, Del?"

The explanation was a punch in the gut for Delaney, who was beginning to feel like a lightbulb was going off over her head. Sawyer had called The Nascence a cult, but really, it was _so _much worse than that. "So helping Unova and Sinnoh was just a ruse. All of the supplies gathered, all of the people helped… Just bullshit."

"No, absolutely not!" Ben said, wide-eyed. "What kind of people do you think we are, Delaney? The Galactic forces in Sinnoh that were running low on supplies were _very _grateful for our help."

The pit that had been slowly forming in Delaney's stomach as the conversation went on seemed to drop out at Nick's words. She thought about all of the boxes of food they had talked about getting at meetings, all the supplies they had asked Delaney herself to get- _they __had asked her to help supply Team Galactic. _"You despicable _fuck_!" Delaney screeched as the realization hit her, lunging forward. Steven grabbed her to hold her back. "Let go of me, Steven!"

"You're going to jump right in the line of fire," he muttered to her.

"I thought that everything they did was _helping_," Delaney spat. "Helping people like my parents and my friends and they were giving it to the _scum_…"

"Ouch, Delaney, think about your words," Ben interrupted. "They hurt, you know."

"Shut your damn mouth," Delaney snarled. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. To say that she was enraged was an understatement. "Now that The Nascence is history, what do _you _plan to do when Galactic Commander over here moves on? Surely they'll have no more use for you."

"Whoever said The Nascence is history?" Anna asked, raising her eyebrows. "The Nascence is anything but done, honey. Didn't you hear about the big freeze over in Unova? They'll need help now more than ever."

"Yeah, because Steven would _definitely _let you get away with all of this right under his nose," Delaney said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh didn't you hear?" Anna said. "It's really sad, actually. Steven and one of his faithful Elite Four members perished in the fire that destroyed Fortree again. Or at least, that's what the headline will read tomorrow."

"My samurott is putting out that fire, so you might want to rethink that," Delaney said pointedly. Sure enough, Perry's torrents of water were subduing the flames that had threatened the very existence of Fortree for a second time.

"Well after we finish you off and your pokemon become Galactic property, the fire will just magically restart. It's a shame that all of your hard work had to go up in flames. Pun intended."

"If you really think you can manage to do away with Steven Stone, you're delusional," Delaney sneered.

"I've been called many things, Delly, but never delusional," Anna said thoughtfully.

"Stop calling me that," Delaney said between gritted teeth.

Anna smirked, knowing that she was getting under Delaney's skin. "Oh _Delly_, I wonder if Alex would be proud of you right now. Look at you, Elite Four member, fighting the bad guys…"_Stop saying his name. _"You know, he told me about you once."

"Delaney, don't listen to her," Steven said quietly. "She's trying to get a rise out of you."

"He didn't mention you by name, of course," Anna continued. "But he was acting weird and... happy, so I asked what was wrong with him. He said he felt _alive_, which is kind of ironic considering the girl who he said that about is the reason why he's dead. He talked about your pretty smile and your violet eyes-"

"Stop it. Just stop it." She hated the mental image of Alex in his ridiculous spaceman uniform telling the girl in front of him about her. She hated to think of him as a commander with subordinates, giving orders to fulfill Cyrus's plans. It made her sick to think of that part of him. Delaney swallowed hard, but she was still refusing to let any tears fall. She would never _dare _give Anna that satisfaction.

"You were the beginning of the end. Even if you hadn't been the one to battle Cyrus at the Spear Pillar, you _ruined _Alex. He was supposed to be a fierce fighter for Galactic and when it was time for him to take over; he ran it into the ground instead... Over a naive, insecure girl who's more fucked up than anyone can imagine. You are average at best. You're nothing special, and you're definitely no hero."

* * *

_When she was shoved into the back of the cargo load with the frantic Mistralton gym leader shouting "where am I taking you?" she said Kanto._

_Why, she didn't know. Delaney had never been to Kanto. She had never really been anywhere outside of Sinnoh until she left for Nuvema. She later recalled reading in a book that since Team Rocket had been expelled from Kanto by a young boy the media dubbed "Red", the region h__ad experienced record-__low crime rates. Maybe that had influenced her. She didn't know._

_What she did know was that when Skyla landed just outside of Saffron, she opened the cargo hatch where Delaney was hidden and bleeding, the usually jovial redhead burst into tears._

_Delaney didn't._

_Skyla promised her that she knew of a nice hotel that Delaney could get a room at in the city. She gave her the name and told her to tell them that she was a friend of Skyla's. And as Delaney walked through the streets, following Skyla's simple instructions, she wondered what name she would use to check in._

_When she got to the hotel and walked into the lobby, everybody was watching a flatscreen television that was turned to a breaking news report. It showed Dragonspiral with a column of fire reaching up to the sky, an image that was replaced by pictures. Cyrus Akagi, Ghetsis Harmonia._

_Christa White._

_"It has been discovered that Christa White, an up-and-coming trainer from Nuvema Town, is actually Delaney Caldwell, the elite trainer from Sinnoh that defeated Team Galactic originally. She has been known to be facing off against Team Plasma as well. Miss Caldwell was seen heading into Dragonspiral Tower earlier with a group of friends, though she has not been seen since. It is unknown whether she has been taken captive by Akagi and Harmonia."_

_Her first thought was: Lydia is going to freak when she sees that. I need to call her and let her know I made it out. Her second thought was: She'll be the first person they go after to see where I'm at. Her third thought was: I'm a piece of shit for getting her involved. Please don't let them kill her._

_So she left the Crosstransceiver in her bag._

_The news report ended and the inhabitants of the hotel began migrating away from the television. Eyes drifted in her direction and after a few seconds, they began lighting up with recognition. And then the humming noise of mass chatter began. What the hell is she doing here? Isn't she supposed to be in Unova? Maybe we should leave before they find her here and attack._

_How dare she leave when they need her?_

_She walked out of the lobby without bothering to get a room and began to wander the streets. Most people purposefully avoided her. A few gave her dirty looks. One man spit on her. She couldn't say she blamed him._

_Eventually she came across the Magnet Train __station, which ran straight __to Johto. She decided maybe that was where she wanted to go. Nobody would know she was there. Nobody could find her. __**Cyrus **__definitely wouldn't be able to find her. The train ran to Goldenrod, which she heard was a big city. She would be able to hide in a big city._

_The thing about Goldenrod, though, was that with it's nice fancy game corner and it's giant mall and petite gym leader with pink hair, it reminded her way too much of Veilstone. Maybe that was where the similarities ended, but the last thing Delaney wanted was to think of Veilstone every time she walked out the door. Veilstone, where she and Dax had become best friends, where she stayed while she trained for the Spear Pillar…_

_Veilstone, where she spent that last night with Alex._

_So she left Goldenrod too. She headed up north to a quiet little town called Ecruteak, where she got a room in the Pokemon Center and didn't leave the room for about four months except to get food. It reminded her of when she was little and in trouble and Blake would punish her by sticking her in her room and told her to think about what she had done._

_That was all she did, except this punishment didn't end._

* * *

"Tweedle, let out a final sludge bomb. Aim for Mr. Stone," Anna said with a smirk.

Delaney jumped up, snapping out of her thoughts. "Are you kidding? What is the matter with you?" What kind of trainer would possibly force their pokemon to do such a thing? Sure, she was crazy if she thought that Synapse or Helmer wouldn't deflect the attack, but a command like that pushed the trainer-pokemon bond way too far.

The shuckle looked up at her worriedly. Even he knew that she was wrong. Delaney's heart hurt for the poor pokemon. "Shuck?" he asked.

"Just do it!" Anna barked. The nervousness in the shuckle's eyes was replaced with fear and though anyone could tell that he didn't feel right about it, his loyalty was still to his trainer. He released a large glob of toxic goo and aimed right at Steven.

"Synapse, stop that somehow!" Delaney called desperately. The psychic pokemon nodded and shot out a psychic attack aimed at the poison-attack, though it didn't stop its trajectory. However, what Anna had ignored was the part-steel type that was able to step in front of the attack and let it hit his armor like it was nothing. Instead of a dead champion, like she had anticipated, she stood staring at a very angry aggron named Helmer.

"Did she just…?" Delaney drifted off, looking wondrously at Steven. "Are you-"_Okay? Not dead? You're not dead, right? _She knew he wouldn't be; she knew that either Helmer or Synapse would stop the powerful poisonous attack before it ever hit Steven but still... She had been in vicious battles before. She had seen people that she cared about die in front of her eyes. She didn't want to see Steven among those people.

"I'm fine, but I'd say that was pretty ill-advised," Steven said with a nod. "You've truly got a powerful shuckle, Anna. It takes a talented trainer to know how to use one well, and you've clearly raised this one up well." Delaney turned her head and looked at Steven, very confused. _What in the hell was he doing?_" It's obviously done most of the damage here tonight."

The tips of Ben's ears turned red and a scowl came across his face, a look massively different than the charming smile Delaney was used to seeing. "Shelgon, flamethrower," he growled. The aggron tried to dodge out of the way, but he was still hit with most of the attack. The steel plates on Helmer's body turned red and the aggron looked agitated, but the attack still did very little to him.

"I genuinely don't know why Cyrus didn't send you to just do the job yourself, Anna," Steven said, unfazed. "_He _seems to be generally useless."

He wasn't, seeing as how it was his shelgon that was the main offensive striker. It was Ben who had gotten Delaney ensnared in The Nascence to begin with, which had given them access to Steven. And it was most definitely Ben who had charmed storeowners and food banks into helping them, not the much less pleasant Anna. But when Delaney saw Ben's face turn red and he began to yell, she realized precisely what Steven had stumbled upon- an incredibly messed-up power dynamic, bloated conceit on Anna's part and a lack of control on Ben's.

"Useless?" Ben asked incredulously. "_Useless? I _would've led The Nascence to taking over Hoenn. _She_," he said, pointing to Anna, "is a bitch that nobody would've supported. And we might have been successful thanks to your little lackey over there," he said, turning to Delaney. "Who would've thought? One of the most powerful trainers in the world is nothing more than a pretty face with self-esteem issues. You would've led us right to Steven and we could've taken care of him in no time but _somebody _was convinced that we had been found out, so we had to do things the hard way."

"She's been ignoring your calls all day," Anna said with a roll of her eyes. "That either meant that you suck in bed or she found us out."

Delaney turned crimson as Steven looked over at her incredulously. And to think the conversation had lasted this long without _that _being brought up. "It actually meant that I lost my Crosstransceiver," Delaney said, avoiding looking over at her superior.

"Well _somebody _has it because it kept going to voicemail on the first or second ring, which means your call has been ignored," Anna stated. "And why are we discussing this? It doesn't matter. Your plan was a failure, Ben, and you're under my command anyways, so get over it and stop acting like some pitiful jealous teenage girl. The fact of the matter is, Steven Stone is right here in front of us, Cyrus believes it's important that we get rid of him and so he needs to be out of the picture _now_, along with his brainless little twit of a lackey."

Anna lunged towards them with a look of hatred blazing in her cat-like eyes, but a spark hit her before she ever reached Steven. She hit the ground, unconscious. Delaney spun around only to see a luxray with pale eyes. A trio of figures stepped out from behind a partially charred tree. Cam stood in front, his smirk causing his scar to appear even more prominent than usual. Ren stood beside him, the look on her face appearing to be a mixture of anger and disappointment. Standing behind the two was Jackson, looking entirely indifferent. "Arceus they were getting annoying. She's lucky that I didn't order Mufasa to kill her," Cam said with a roll of his eyes.

"Synapse, make sure _he _doesn't even blink," Delaney ordered. The psychic pokemon didn't even think twice about letting out a burst of energy rendering Ben immobile, but even then, she narrowed her eyes and watched him like a fearow. She knew that he had been trying to hurt her trainer and she wouldn't hesitate to put him out of commission for good if he dared to make another move. Ever since Delaney had caught her as a solosis in Unova, she had been fiercely protective of her and the rest of Delaney's team.

Steven looked at the dark-haired young man in shock. "Who- Are these more friends of yours? Jackson? What are you doing here?"

A chill ran down Delaney's spine. The gravity of the situation was finally beginning to hit her, seeing the rest of the Nascence. Nick was not falling for her like he said. He was a conman. Malonie was not his sister. She was a commander for Galactic. They were coming to invade Hoenn. They had fooled a half dozen people into collecting supplies that they sent off to Galactic. And just then they had attempted to kill Steven- and then probably Delaney. It sounded like a really horrible movie.

"What _are _you doing here?" Delaney asked. "All of you… How did you-"

"These were the people you were going to meet, right?" Jackson interrupted. "If not, this is really awkward."

Delaney blinked several times. "Um, yes. What are you-"

"These two showed up at the Mauville Pokemon Center looking for you," Jackson said. "Before I could explain everything, Flannery burst in. She handed her pokemon off to that crazy nurse and then came back to me and she hugged me, which was weird and awkward, and she was crying and saying that she had been attacked in Fortree by two trainers with a shelgon and a shuckle and the town had been burning down until _you _came along with your samurott-"

"And I've known Malonie- sorry, _Anna_," Ren corrected icily, "For long enough to know her shuckle, as well as the fact that _he _has a shelgon so I figured it was them."

"They didn't realize we were standing there and Flannery wasn't exactly quiet," Cam explained.

"So we figured something had to be up and we ran out and this guy said he wanted to come with, so we flew just outside the city and then walked up," Ren finished.

"It all sounded a lot more interesting than just sitting around the Pokemon Center," Jackson said with a shrug.

"How much did you hear?" Delaney asked.

"And how did we not even notice you?" Steven asked.

"Well, I think you were focused more on the crazy bitch trying to kill you with a sludge bomb and psychologically tormented Delaney," Jackson said with a shrug.

"We walked up right about the time Anna brought up Cyrus pushing someone off Dragonspiral Tower," Ren said. "I heard about that. Your boyfriend, right?"

Delaney's eyes shifted to the ground. "If you could call him that."

Everything was silent for a moment. "I really believed what Ghetsis said, you know," Ren said softly, shifting uncomfortably It was really the first time Delaney had ever heard her speak without snark present in her voice. "About freeing pokemon, about not hindering their growth and potential. I didn't realize it was a crock of shit until Cyrus came on board and then everything kind of came out. Cyrus is one twisted bastard. That's why I wanted to be a part of The Nascence. I wanted to be a part of tearing him down."

Delaney nodded. "He's only going to get worse with all this power."

"So Steven," Jackson began, swiftly changing the subject. It was obvious he wasn't doing well with all of the emotion present. "These two would be the security threat we were looking for, correct?"

Steven shook his head. "No."

Delaney looked up in shock. "No? Who else is there? You said yourself that they were behind all of those crimes." Arceus, was there someone _else _they had to worry about?

"Ben is merely a conman and Anna is one of Cyrus's puppets. They were… a temporary threat. I think the real threat to our security now is Cyrus himself." Steven looked Delaney straight in the eyes and gave her a small smile. Her eyes widened as she realized where he was going.

Jackson broke out into a wide grin. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Steven nodded. "Yes. We need to go straight to the source."

* * *

**Author's Note (1/07/13): **So... Remember what I said about that T rating coming more into play now? I totally wasn't kidding.

Thanks so much to my wonderful beta, **Noteleks**, who was a HUGE help with this chapter.

Thank you for reading and reviewing, if you so choose to. :)

See ya next week!

~DAT


	15. 14: But the Regrets are Killing Me

_When I was younger, my father told me to live the kind of life where I had nothing to regret in the end. I'm not near the end, but I already have so many regrets, so many things I wish I could have done differently. __  
_

_I wish I could've done everything differently._**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 14: But the Regrets are Killing Me**

"_Most of you are aware of the events that transpired yesterday. Please allow me to fill the rest of the group in. Yesterday, one of our Elite Four members was attacked in Fortree by a high-ranking official from Team Galactic and a Galactic-hired conman. They have been in Hoenn for some time posing as leaders of a charitable group called The Nascence. They claimed to be aiding those in Sinnoh and Unova and had their members collect donations for their cause, but they were actually sending money and supplies to forces of Team Galactic."_

* * *

A small fist knocked on the heavy mahogany door of room 231. Delaney stood there, tapping her foot as she waited for Sawyer to answer. She was really hoping that he hadn't decided to continue their feuding while they were apart, but whether he was mad at her or not, she really needed to talk to him and apologize for what had gone down with The Nascence. Sawyer had been right all along, and even though telling Sawyer he was right usually didn't lead to anything good, _I'm sorry_ still needed to be said.

Delaney raised her fist to knock again when the door opened with a creak. She waited for Sawyer's face to appear in the gap, but it didn't. Puzzled, the brunette pushed the door open, only to find three people sitting on a bed waiting for her.

Delaney's jaw dropped. "Arceus, _no way!_" she gasped. "How are you-"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Dax said with a grin.

* * *

"_It is clear to me that Cyrus intends to take over Hoenn and add it to his empire. I believe it is time to do something we should have done a long time ago and go over there- it is time to help Unova and Sinnoh. Now that much of the rebuilding of Hoenn is complete, I feel we are in a position where we can extend a hand and help."_

Delaney was still standing wide-eyed and amazed when Dax got off of the bed and wrapped her in a huge hug. He still smelled like a mix of trendy cologne and spearmint gum, though he had changed colognes sometime in the four years since Delaney had last seen him (this new one kind of smelled awful). And though Dax was not very emotional, he was fighting back tears. "Arceus, I've missed you, Delaney Christa Caldwell," he said, squeezing her tightly. "Why is your hair still brown?"

"I just got used to it, I guess," Delaney said with a chuckle. With all of the immense chaos that surrounded them, Dax's first question was about her hair. She wasn't going to complain though- it was such a Dax thing to say and just having him there was amazing.

She almost forgot anybody else was in the room until she felt somebody tap her shoulder. Dax pulled away from her and she whirled around. "Annette!" she squealed, embracing the young blonde girl. Annette didn't force her into embrace nearly as long as Dax did and Delaney pulled away and inspecting the younger girl. "Is that my skirt?"

Annette turned red. "Yes."

"It looks better on you, keep it," Delaney said with a grin. "I'm just so glad to see you guys… And Sawyer!" she said, looking over at the auburn-haired boy who was content to watch the scene play out in front of him. He smiled at her from his seat on the bed. Delaney plopped down next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I was coming to see you and-"

"I surprised the hell out of you," Sawyer finished with a smile. "Are you happy?"

"Am I _happy_?" Delaney repeated incredulously. "Sawyer, this is amazing! How did you do this?"

"Well, you see, I got a little help," he said, reaching into his pocket. His face was beet red as he put a Crosstransceiver in her hand. "I hope you got along without this okay."

* * *

"_I have been on the phone for most of the day trying to get a plan together. I've been in contact with both Cynthia and Lance. Cynthia will help as best as she can. Lance will also be sending some of the gym leaders and a couple Elite 4 members from both Johto and Kanto to help, though because the gym circuits in Johto and Kanto are actually active, he cannot send everyone. They will meet you there. Those going to Unova will be under the command of Delaney, while those going to Sinnoh will be under Riley… And then there are those of you I'd rather stay here."_

"_Aww man," Hudson muttered from the other end of the table. She knew exactly where this was heading._

The room was notably quieter as Dax and Sawyer sat side-by-side on the bed. Annette, who had been chattering Delaney's ear off for a good five minutes, had whisked the brunette away to get a look at her new pokemon. Delaney had told him years ago before about Annette, who had once been a maid for the Caldwell family (even after so many years of being friends, it was still odd to Sawyer that Delaney was wealthy enough to have maids and a house large enough to require multiple maids). She had mentioned in their phone call that she had been in Johto, which was obviously not where Delaney was from, so Sawyer assumed that she was now traveling.

It was more than a little odd to think about _anyone_ traveling on a journey while so much was going on. Hoenn had nearly been destroyed, Sinnoh and Unova were being ruled by a bunch of psychopaths… But Johto and Kanto had apparently made off well enough to continue their lives- and their gym circuit- without much disruption. Of course, they had been terrorized by Team Rocket in the past, but now, life was much easier there. No wonder Delaney had escaped there after leaving Unova.

"You're quiet. It's annoying," Dax said, raising his eyebrow at Sawyer before flopping back on the bed. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"I guess so," he said. Oddly enough, Sawyer hadn't really given it much thought. Sure, in the morning (and _early_ in the morning- Delaney said Steven wanted them there by _six_), they were leaving for Unova. It had been a year and a half since Sawyer had taken a boat from Humilau to Vermillion and even longer than that since he and Delaney had travelled around- it felt like a whole other lifetime. "It's going to be weird going back home." It felt weird calling it home. These rooms in Hoenn seemed more like home now.

"Three years, right?" Dax asked.

"A year and a half," Sawyer responded. He leaned against the headboard of his bed. "I stayed and fought with the Unovan Resistance for a year and a half. Then I left to find Delaney."

Dax chuckled. "So just how ridiculously in love with Delaney Christa Caldwell are you?"

Sawyer flushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Puh-_leaze_," Dax drawled, drawing the word out. "You are forgetting three very important things. One, I have to lie about my dates du jour to my father like all the time since he doesn't realize he's never getting a daughter in-law, so I know the tricks. Two, I know Delaney better than anybody in the world and she's pretty much the sister I never had. Three, you are awkward and totally obvious with how adorably smitten you are."

"What does this have to do with how well you know Delaney?" Sawyer asked.

"Nothing at all, but I knew you would cling to that to avoid answering my question, which only proves my point… So thank you, Sawyer whatever your last name is, for letting me be right."

"You are _not_ right. That doesn't even make sense," Sawyer said indignantly, though the blush on his cheeks was extending to his ears. "And also, I refuse to let you call me by my full name."

"Whatever," Dax said with a roll of his eyes. "Why haven't you made a move? You two must have shared rooms together like a million times."

"Dax, I realize you just got here and haven't had a chance to talk to her yet, but when you do, you'll see why," Sawyer said quietly.

"Ah-_ha!_" Dax said triumphantly. "You've stopped denying… But what does that mean? Are you insinuating that there's something wrong with Del?"

"Del is great," Sawyer said with a smile. "But it's going to be a long time before she's going to be ready to date anyone."

"I think you're just scared," Dax challenged.

"Just talk to her," Sawyer insisted. "You'll understand."

"I don't think I get it," Dax said with a frown.

"Between all of this Galactic and Plasma shit and Alex dying and everything else-" Sawyer began.

"Who's Alex?" Dax asked, sitting back up, looking at Sawyer curiously.

"That," Sawyer said nervously. "That is something Delaney has to tell you herself."

* * *

"_Sarah and Hudson, I would prefer you to stay in Hoenn. This has nothing to do with your aptitude as trainers or Gym Leaders and everything to do with your age. I don't want you involved in something of this scope. May, as we have already discussed, you'll be staying here with me. While you're perfectly capable of being a part of this fight, I'm going to need the help of both you and Anderson to hold the fort down."_

"_I'm the same age Delaney was when she first battled Galactic!" Hudson protested._

"_We see how well that turned out for her," Jackson deadpanned._

"…And then Whitney stopped crying and gave me the badge!" Annette was saying as she stepped into the room, followed by Delaney.

"Hey you guys!" Delaney said with a wide smile. Sawyer couldn't help but think that it had been a long time since he had seen such a big smile on Delaney's face. "Sorry, Annette wanted me to see her team. She's getting seriously strong!"

"Who's Alex?" Dax asked, looking her directly in the eyes.

"Oh boy," Sawyer muttered under his breath. "Annette, how about I, uh, show you where the meeting room is? You'll have to be there in a few hours and you'll… want to know where it is."

"Why don't you just show me closer to when we leave?" Annette asked. She was clearly interested in this conversation.

"Because we should let them have their alone time," Sawyer said quietly in her ear as he walked past her, grabbing her wrist as he headed for the door. Annette quickly got the picture and followed him out.

Delaney stared blankly at Dax. "Wha… What?"

"Who is Alex and how did he die?" Dax asked pointedly.

"Did Sawyer tell you about Alex?" Delaney asked, confused and turning redder by the minute.

"Sawyer would not tell me, which is why I'm asking you. Was Alex some guy you met in Unova that you completely forgot to tell me about or something?"

Delaney paused, chewing on her lower lip. "Not exactly," she said finally.

A light went off over Dax's head. "_Him_." Delaney said nothing. She cast her eyes to the ground and after a moment, nodded. "I _knew_ it! The guy from the Spear Pillar! The Galactic guy! You were totally in love with him, weren't you?"

Delaney shook his head. "It's not that easy, Dax. This isn't some sort of fairy tale."

"So his name was Alex…" Dax said thoughtfully. "And he was in Team Galactic. He wasn't wearing a grunt's uniform so I'm guessing he was one of those commander guys?"

"Galactic Commander Saturn," Delaney said dully. "I met him on my way to Celestic Town, sans costume. My pokemon were hurt and the weather was shitty… And he helped me. I had no way of knowing."

"But then you found out and didn't end things," Dax said with a raise of his eyebrow.

"I was sixteen and stupid," Delaney said, finally looking up.

"And you met up with him in Unova?" Dax asked.

"I ran into him while traveling, but you know, I was in disguise and he was in disguise and I didn't know until it was too late." Delaney paused. "This sounds like a really shitty soap opera or something."

"Kinda," Dax admitted. "But you know I'm a glutton for soap operas. What happened?"

"What happened is that Cyrus threw him off of Dragonspiral Tower and he's dead."

Dax looked at Delaney, stunned. "Del-"

"Have you talked to my father?" Delaney interrupted. This was not somewhere she wanted to go.

Dax blinked in surprise. "No, but I know he's okay. After he was attacked by Galactic, Cynthia made sure to put in some, uh, extra security around your house."

"Like what?" Delaney asked.

"Don't worry about it," Dax said. "Just know that Cynthia's garchomp has been very bored without any challengers and anybody who tries to mess with your house will meet a very grim end."

"What about your family? Are they alright?"

"Mom left the house and came up to the Battle Frontier with me and my dad. Our annoying little neighbor Dawn is watering plants and shit," Dax said. "Though Mom forgot what it's like to have my dad around all the time and he's kind of driving her bonkers." He paused thoughtfully. "So this is where you've been at. Not a bad place to hide out. I always knew you would end up with some sort of Elite 4 gig."

"It's just temporary," Delaney told him. "I've basically been going around just checking out the rebuilding of each city."

"And from what I hear, getting involved with a cult?" Dax asked, raising his eyebrows at the brunette.

"Arceus, can we _not_ talk about The Nascence?" Delaney sighed. She wanted to forget it ever existed. Stupid Nascence, stupid Nick (errr… Ben), stupid Team Galactic…

"Just tell me- did it have to do with a guy?" Dax asked with a wicked little grin on his face.

"Dax!" Delaney groaned.

"It totally was. Was he hot? Did you hook up?" Dax asked eagerly.

Delaney glowered at him. "You're killing me here."

* * *

"_I'm not willing to compromise on this," Steven said, a steely look in his eyes. "And we have no time to discuss it further. We haven't even discussed what you'll be dealing with over there and it would be irresponsible for me to send you ill-prepared. All of northern Unova and most of eastern Unova have been frozen over. I'm not sure what the cause is, but I am completely certain that Ghetsis is responsible. Hundreds are dead and more will die. Plasma has supplies that they are willing to give to those in that part of the region in exchange for their cooperation. This means that there will be many very desperate people who will be willing to turn you in to Plasma for a day's meal. They have also been attempting to extort the gym leader leaders and trying to get them to cooperate- offering their pokemon back if they can prove loyalty to Plasma."_

_ "Well that's lovely. Have any accepted this offer?" Norman asked. _

_ Steven shook his head. "They have formed a resistance group, though they're currently stuck at an end, as there are very few with pokemon still."_

_ "Besides me, only Drayden, Cheren and Lenora still have pokemon… Last time I checked, anyways," Burgh added._

Before Delaney was forced to answer any of Dax's torturous questions, a timid knock rang out and the door opened slightly. "Can we come back in? Annette needs to change and her stuff is in here."

"Are you leaving already?" Delaney asked, shocked.

The door opened all the way to reveal a guilty-looking Sawyer and Annette drenched from head to toe. Delaney looked over at Sawyer and sighed. "What happened?"

"I thought I would take Annette to the pool to kill some time," Sawyer stated.

"And?"

"And Fluffy got mad at me for not paying enough attention to him over the last couple days and maybe knocked Annette in the pool."

"Are you okay?" Delaney asked the soaking blonde girl.

"Mm_hmm_," Annette said between pressed lips, indicating that she was at least slightly annoyed. "I am leaving in about fifty minutes, though, so I guess this is a good a time as any to change."

* * *

_"Sinnoh has not yet been iced over," Steven continued. "But you can't turn your head without running into a gaggle of Galactic members. There is no access to the lakes for anyone not in Galactic or Plasma, so water has become a hot commodity. They have also continued bombings. During their first invasion, they bombed Lake Valor. Several bombs have gone off in the last few weeks."_

_ "Where?" Delaney asked sharply, her heart racing. How easy would it be to bomb a house on route 212… Arceus, please let Dad and my pokemon be alright._

_ "The cathedral in Hearthrome was the first building attacked. The lighthouse in Sunyshore was also targeted, as well as Jubilife- that's why Sinnoh has no media at the moment," Steven said._

Delaney glanced quickly over at the clock on Sawyer's wall. "Please don't tell me you're going to Sinnoh," she called to Annette, who was changing in Sawyer's bathroom.

The blonde girl came out in a pair of denim shorts and a pink shirt similar to the one she had been wearing earlier. "Of course I am," she said, looking at Delaney like she was insane. "I may not be from Sinnoh, but it was good to me for a long time. Your family was good to me for a long time. It was because of you guys that I was able to finally go on a journey. There's no way I could stand _not _going."

"Now Delaney is going to cry…" Dax said with a sigh. "Good job, Annette."

"Shut up," Delaney said, glaring at her best friend as she wiped away a stray tear. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave as well?" After all, there was really no way that Dax was just going to stay there in Hoenn."

"Nope, I don't leave until tomorrow," Dax said with a mischievious grin. "I'm going to go help a certain brunette friend of mine kick some ass in Unova."

"Aww, you're so sweet to think of me, Dax," Sawyer joked.

* * *

_"I know you all must have a lot of questions, but if I can hold your attention for another five minutes, I'd like to give you your assignments. Going with Delaney in Unova will be Brawly and Jackson, as well as some members of The Nascence- Percy, Ren and Lauren. Nicolai, Burgh's assistant, will also be going with you."_

_ Delaney burst into a smile for what seemed to be the first time all day. "He does have a score to settle," she said with a chuckle. "And Sawyer is coming with me as well, right?"_

"_Of course," Steven said with a small grin, finally breaking his stern, take-charge persona. He quickly regained it, though Delaney was just glad that they could find something to smile about in this situation. "Riley will be in charge of Atticus, Norman, Brendan, Jody, Cam and Kirari. Sinnoh group, I would like you to leave tonight, as you will have a very difficult time getting into Sinnoh. Unova group, you will leave in the morning."_

It was a little after 3:30 when Delaney officially decided to give up on sleeping. In theory, a sleepover with her two best friends the night before they left for a dangerous mission sounded like a great idea. However, trying to filter out Sawyer's snores in addition to general tossing and turning from nerves led to Delaney just laying in bed thinking and _that_ was never a good idea. After five hours of attempting and failing to get a good night's sleep, Delaney decided to just get up and prepare to leave.

After throwing on a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt and her shoes, running a comb quickly through her hair and grabbing her bag full of supplies, Delaney crept out of the room so as not to disturb Dax or Sawyer. The fluorescent lights of the hallway made her squint as she stepped into the hallway, being much brighter than the dark room she had just gotten out of. It was only then that she realized that she had no idea what she was planning to do for the next two and a half hours until she was supposed to meet Steven.

Delaney looked to her right down the hallway, and then to her left. Seeing nothing of interest either way, she decided to just head up to meeting room A, where she was supposed to meet Steven, and… do what? Fiddle with her old Pokedex that hadn't really been used since she had traveled in Unova? Put on make-up to look halfway presentable (and not at all like the zombie she felt like)?

Eh, she would figure it out when she got up there.

* * *

_"I've been talking for quite awhile here. Do any of you have questions for me?" Steven asked, looking down the long conference table at the assembled group of gym leaders, Elite Four members and a few selected members of The Nascence._

_ "Yeah, I've got one," Burgh asked. The curly-haired young man sat directly on Delaney's right, and he had a slightly irate look on his face. "Why in the hell are we trusting these Nascence people? If their leaders were Galactic, how do we know they're not Galactic?"_

_ "Look, we were fooled just like everyone else," Ren snapped._

_ "Maybe you don't have any reason to trust us," Cam spoke up. "But you don't have any reason not to."_

_ "Um, yes we do!" Burgh argued. "I'm pretty sure I just said it- your leaders were working with Galactic. That makes the rest of you suspicious by default."_

_ "By questions, I don't think Steven meant for us to just start arguing with one another," May spoke up quietly. "But I am also somewhat hesitant about The Nascence. I don't mean any offense, but I just don't want to see any harm come to anyone"_

_ "There is really no way for us to prove to you right here and right now that we're not going to screw you over," Cam said evenly. "You're just going to have to take the word of each of us that we are who we say we are and we each have our reasons for wanting to help Unova and Sinnoh, just like many of you have your own issues with them." He glanced over at Delaney._

_ Burgh opened his mouth to speak again, but Steven beat him to the punch. "I trust them," Steven said firmly. "And if there are issues, I have no doubt that those that are on our side will deal with them. I'll leave discretion to Delaney and Riley as far as dealing with those issues goes." Delaney and Riley exchanged a nervous glance across the table. She knew Riley was thinking the same thing she was- that hopefully there would be no instance where they would ever have to use that discretion. "Are there any more questions, specifically, questions for me?"_

_ Despite the animated nature of the group, nobody spoke up this time. "If that's the case, I'm going to adjourn this meeting. Gym leaders, make final arrangements to be gone. Find someone to carry out the day-to-day operations of your gym and let them know that Anderson will be contacting them at some point tomorrow. Riley, I would like to see you in an hour to discuss final details with you. Delaney, I would like you to be over in room A at six tomorrow morning so that I may speak with you before the Unova group departs." He glanced around the group, all of whom were wide-eyed and looking at him._

"_Good luck."_

Luckily, meeting room A was not locked. It was also fairly dark without those terrible fluorescent lights on, so dark that Delaney wondered if there was a chance she could get in a few hours of sleep before her meeting with Steven. She took a few steps into the room towards where she thought the table might be when she heard a very confused male voice call out. "Hello?"

Delaney's heart began racing. She had seen enough horror movies to know that a dark room with someone you didn't know was not a good thing. "Is someone in here?" he asked again. She heard a shuffling noise as the person clearly moved around the room. Delaney stayed rooted to where she stood and winced as the lights began to flicker on. Standing by the lightswitch on the wall adjacent to where she stood was none other than Steven Stone in a white t-shirt and gray pajama pants. "Delaney?"

"Steven?" she asked, resisting the urge to chuckle. Somehow, the idea of Steven existing outside of being Champion had never really occurred to her much. Of course, there had been their trip to Mossdeep where they had come across part of his stone collection and he had shown them his former home, but even then, it was still Champion Steven with his house in Mossdeep. Delaney didn't ever really think of Steven eating or sleeping or wearing pajamas like a normal person, because Steven was not exactly a normal person like herself or Sawyer. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Steven countered. "You have kind of a busy day tomorrow. You should be sleeping."

"I couldn't sleep," Delaney said with a shrug. "I was nervous and also, Sawyer snores too loudly. What are you doing here?" she repeated. "Were you sleeping?"

"I was trying to," he admitted sheepishly. "I swear, I have the most comfortable bed in the world but some nights it makes absolutely no difference. I might as well have been trying to sleep on rocks. I guess it's useless to try to get back to sleep at this point," he said, striding back over to the table and taking a seat. "Come here, take a seat, Delaney."

"Isn't this a few hours too early?" Delaney asked jokingly as she took the seat across from him.

"Well maybe we can calm those nerves of yours," Steven said with a smile. " Though I have to admit, I'm nervous too."

"_You're _nervous?" Delaney asked incredulously. "Why are you nervous?"

"I'm nervous for all of you," Steven said. "Right now, I'm nervous for everyone trying to get into Sinnoh, because if they get caught, it's not going to be pretty. I'm nervous for everyone going to Unova tomorrow, because even though you guys have a bit more help getting in, it's still pretty risky."

Delaney thought of Annette, and of Riley, and of all the other people with them. _If they get caught, it's not going to be pretty._ "How do we have more help?"

"I have someone in Undella that's going to be helping you… In all honesty, that plan is a bit of a gamble. I hope it works out in our favor," Steven said, cringing. "The fact of the matter is… You guys are waging war. I just really want everyone to come out alive and well- both physically and mentally," he added. "I'm nervous for you too, Delaney. Is this…"

"A mistake?" Delaney finished flatly.

"No, I know it's not a mistake. You're more than capable of leading everyone in there and getting the job done," Steven said. "I'm just worried that this is going to take a toll on you."

"You're worried about what will happen when I eventually am confronted with Cyrus," Delaney inferred.

Steven nodded. "I am. Not because I think you're not capable of facing him, because I don't think that at all… But I think that anyone confronted with a monster like Cyrus after all that he's done would definitely experience some inner anguish."

"You don't have to sound so apologetic for worrying about that," Delaney said with a small smile. "I would be kind of worried if you weren't. I am. I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm just going to choke like I did before."

"With Alex?" Steven asked. Delaney nodded, looking at the table.

"Can we-" Delaney started.

"I'm not going to ask questions about that," Steven said. "You were what, fifteen? Sixteen? You're an adult now. You'll be twenty soon. I'm not going to hold you to the choices you made as a teenager years ago. That's not my business. Just… I ask that you don't make this journey into Unova about that."

"It really has nothing to do with that," she assured him. "I mean, of course, thinking about it makes me kind of angry and that fuels my drive to get Cyrus even more… But I'm not dragging a group of people into dangerous territory to avenge the death of my former boyfriend, since that's more or less kind of crazy," she said with a chuckle. "I think I was more privy than most people to that maniac's insane desires. He kills people and pokemon without even thinking about it. He's pretty much started a cult dedicated to helping him with his goals of enslaving legendary pokemon so that he can create a new universe. He's currently dominating two regions and their populations so that nobody can get in his way. I have plenty of reasons to hate him and want to take him down without dragging Alex into this."

Steven chuckled. "Well, when you put it like that…"

"Is someone in here?" a feminine voice rang out as the door opened and a head poked through the crack. "Oh! Champion Steven!" Brenna opened the door all of the way and stood in the doorway. "And Miss Caldwell! I'm sorry to interrupt, I just heard voices…"

"It's no problem, Brenna," Steven said with a warm smile.

Brenna looked from Steven to Delaney, her nervous expression never disappearing. "I'll leave you two to get back to business. If you need anything, please let me know."

"Thank you, Brenna," Steven said. He turned to Delaney. "Such a nice girl."

"She is," Delaney agreed with a smile. "And she's got _such_ a terrible crush on Sawyer and he doesn't even notice."

Steven chuckled. "I have to admit, I'm going to miss your antics while you're in Unova."

"Antics?!" Delaney laughed. "What antics could you possibly be referring to?"

"I'm thinking more along the line of your constant bickering with Sawyer rather than your accidentally getting involved with a Galactic con man," Steven said with a smirk. Delaney instantly turned red and covered her face with her palms. "Oh, nothing to say now, Delaney?"

"Go to bed, Steven," Delaney said, her voice muffled by her hands. "You kind of have a busy day tomorrow."

Steven snickered. "That's what I thought." He got up from the table. "I'm going to go and try to get some work done before we officially meet, Miss Delaney Caldwell. With the time difference, I should be able to catch Lance right as he gets in."

"I'm going to… maybe catch some sleep, if I can," Delaney said, resting her head on the table.

Steven flipped the light off. "Stop worrying," he said as he headed out the door. Even though he didn't say it with the most conviction, it made Delaney feel a little better to know that she wasn't the only one who was scared.

* * *

**Author's Note (1/30/13)**: Once upon a time, there was a real POS laptop that kept randomly shutting off. On this POS laptop was Microsoft Word, which also kept shutting down whenever opened. Five million phone calls and twenty years on the phone later, the laptop is (mostly) fixed and Word works and I can write again (as well as open syllabi for my classes! Yay!). The end.  
Moral of the story: I am dying to go back to a desktop and also, I more or less hate this computer (more rather than less).

Happy beginning of the semester to everyone, even though I know many of you went back to school quite awhile ago. My first week back was last week and in just the last week (beginning on Monday the 21st), I have had six meetings for the various student organizations and advisory boards I'm a part of, seven chapters that have had to be read, a handful of assignments and also work... And my research project was finally deemed ethical and I have been given approval to begin my work, which is so huge and important for me and I'm so psyched. I may or may not already be going slightly insane, but I still think this is going to be an incredible semester, so I'll live with the going crazy part.

This chapter... was not exactly a filler chapter, but it was not as action-packed as the last few. This is the last chapter that is like that. Delaney and company will be in Unova starting in chapter 15 and from here on, it is kind of a crazy ride. I urge you to remember that the rest of this story will probably live up to it's T rating. Language and violence especially will increase and get a bit more adult. Don't say I didn't warn you.

As far as my outline goes, there will be between 20-24 chapters of this one, though I am really thinking it may end up being 22 like TCatG was. We'll see, as I may choose to expand on some of the events that will be happening.

Thank you so much to all of you amazing, amazing people who take the time out of your day to read this story. It is so appreciated. I also greatly appreciate those of you who take the time to review- I'm not here to beg for praise and the constructive criticism and responses I get are incredible and help me so much. I love this story, and I want to make it the best it can be.

And thanks as well to my fabulous, fabulous beta **Noteleks**.

Providing I have no more issues with my laptop, expect chapter 15 next week (or maybe even sooner, depending on how much homework I get done tomorrow during the day). It's one I've been stoked to write for a long time. :)

See ya next week!  
~DAT


	16. 15: Home, I'll Never Be

_When I was ten, I gave up the right to go on a journey and instead went to school for four more years. The continued schooling was optional and usually only considered by those who were considering careers in academia, law or business. I wasn't, but I just didn't get the hype of journeys. Sleeping in a tent in Sinnoh sounded nuts to me, as did the idea of going to the bathroom in bushes, hiking through mountains and forests just to get from town to town and all for a badge? I had badges from Girl Scouts- what made gym badges so much more special? Most of my classmates thought I was insane, since the only reason they tolerated school was because their parents made it mandatory for them to attend trainer school before their journeys. So when I went back to school that fall, my classes had dwindled in size considerably._

_I don't regret that at all. I could barely handle my journey when I was fifteen, so Arceus knows ten year old me would have lost my mind. Some things, you forsake or you give away, and it doesn't matter. It's for the better, right?_

_When I did finally leave, I got involved with Team Galactic for various reasons- to impress Professor Rowan, to prove how much better I was than Dax and eventually, for what I thought was love. And through fighting Team Galactic, I lost my innocence- no, rather, I gave it away the moment I stepped up to that grunt in Jubilife City._

_I wish I could take it back._

* * *

**Chapter 15: Home, I'll Never Be**

The flimsy Styrofoam cup in Delaney's hand trembled, threatening to spill the coffee within down the blue shirt she was wearing. Normally, Delaney didn't care much for coffee, but there was really nothing normal about this day anyways.

Not that Delaney noticed that she was about to be wearing the liquid in her cup. Her eyes were shut tight and she was trying to tune out everything around her. Considering the last time she had been on a plane was her trip from Unova to Kanto, she wasn't overly fond of flying. Now that they were heading back to Unova, Delaney was doubly nervous and just trying to keep herself calm was her current priority.

"I know you can get seasick, but can you get _airsick?"_Delaney opened her eyes briefly to see a smirking Dax and a pale sandy-haired gym leader on his left. Despite the blonde's aversion to all things vomit-related, he seemed greatly amused by the glassy look in Jackson's eyes.

"I don't like flying," was the tightlipped response of the current Lavaridge Gym Leader.

"Well, riding in the back of a cargo plane isn't ideal for anybody," chipped in the seasoned voice of Percy. "Do we have any crackers? Those helped my wife with seasickness back in the day. Maybe they'd help you too."

"I just want to be left alone," Jackson snapped. "I'll be fine once we land."

"Arceus, you're such a crabapple," Dax huffed.

"Be nice," Delaney muttered. Not that she cared much for Jackson, even after their tentative truce, but she could definitely understand the loathing flying part.

"Are you sick too?" Dax asked, looking even more amused.

"Not physically," the brunette said, closing her eyes again.

"Are you _scared?_" Dax asked incredulously.

"Arceus, just leave her alone," an exasperated Ren called from the other side of the cargo hold.

Delaney opened her eyes briefly, just long enough to glare at her best friend. "The last time I was on a plane was when I was being emergency-lifted out of Unova," she said curtly. "The only time I had been on one previously was when I left Sinnoh for Unova. Neither are particularly happy memories. I can't say I'm too fond of planes."

"I've always kind of wondered how you managed to make it out of Unova," Nicolai spoke up.

"Skyla," Delaney said simply, thinking of the chipper red-haired leader of Mistralton. Her cargo plane had certainly not been a comfortable ride out of Unova, but there was absolutely no doubt that it had saved her life. "She flew me into Saffron City in Kanto and I took a train to Johto from there," Delaney explained.

"So it was kind of like this," Nicolai said simply.

Delaney nodded. "Yes, it was exactly like this, except there weren't as many people and there were boxes flying around. One of them hit me in the face."

"Brutal," Brawly commented.

"Not really compared to what preceded it… But it was icing on the cake," Delaney said with a chuckle.

"Ugh," Ren scowled. "Everyone should just shut up. It's too fucking early to talk about feelings."

Ren did have a point- they had left Hoenn at six-thirty that morning and had only been in the air for about forty minutes. At first, Delaney had been able to ignore Dax's inhumane amount of energy and even somewhat appreciate it, but it had gotten old fast.

"Chill, sheila," came Brawly's quiet yet relaxing voice from across the plane. Delaney guessed he was near Ren.

"Yeah, chill," Dax said pointedly.

A sea of voices all rang out in perfect unison. "Shut up!"

* * *

When Cynthia looked out the window of her Undella Town villa, she noted the dark clouds in the distance and hoped that the trainers from Hoenn would be in Unova before the clouds released their fury. A pit of nerves was already forming in her stomach as she went over the steps of the plan that she and Steven had worked out, praying to Arceus that everything went as planned.

What she did not notice was a pair of icy gray eyes staring at her from a distance.

Cynthia had other things on her mind. Things like helping trainers into Unova to give them all a fighting chance against Team Plasma. As much as she hated to rely on Delaney Caldwell for a second time, the girl was their best chance at apprehending Cyrus once again. It was imperative that she was able to get into Unova without problems.

The blonde woman fingered the pokèballs in the inner pocket of her jacket and grabbed the one that contained Mireille, her roserade. She let the bouquet pokemon loose and found that even the simple outline of her beloved partner made her feel better… But only slightly. She would only feel at ease once the plane containing the Hoenn trainers arrived.

Mireille smiled at her trainer. She knew that Cynthia needed her for an important job, but she wasn't exactly sure what the job was yet. She knew that Cynthia would tell her and guide her, just as she had for so many years.

Mireille, too, failed to notice the eyes.

* * *

Yet another loud snore rang out from the other side of the cargo hold. "I really want to wake him up, but I feel like that would be a real asshole thing to do," Dax muttered.

"You slept through it fine last night," Delaney pointed out.

"How can he possibly sleep right now?" Jackson asked exasperatedly. It was the first thing he had said in almost two hours.

"The same way I could if I could actually fall asleep, but that's not going to happen," Ren snapped. "We got up at the asscrack of dawn to leave. I'm exhausted, but there is no way I'm falling asleep with him going like a jackhammer."

Sawyer, of course, cared not about their arguing, nor about Ren's sleep patterns. He rolled over, hitting Lauren in the side with his flailing arm. "I just wish he could stay still," she sighed.

"How much longer do we have?" Jackson asked, the tone of his voice almost whiny.

"Another couple hours," Delaney grimaced.

"I think we should do something fun to get our minds off of flying," Dax announced. "Preferably something that will either wake Sawyer up or cover up the noise of his snoring."

"That would involve opening my eyes," Delaney noted.

"Yes, probably," Dax agreed solemnly.

"I've got a game," Ren piped up unexpectedly. "It's called, _everybody shuts the hell up._You can guess how to play."

* * *

"What if the plane crashes?" _Pace, pace, pace._"What if they're just shot down in the sky and they never even make it?"

"They have parachutes," May pointed out. "Steven, you've got to relax."

"I can't relax. They're going off to a war with some of the most dangerous men the world has ever seen," Steven said, tapping his fingers nervously on the surface of his desk. "I didn't give them any sort of training or anything."

"They're all superb trainers," May said reassuringly. "Are you really going to try and tell me that if someone threatens Daddy, they're not going to get a taste of one of his slaking first?"

"What about the younger ones?" Steven asked. "Arceus, Brendan is only-"

"He's an adult," May said firmly. "Just as I am, just as the rest are. You sent _adults_, Steven. You rightfully kept the children here."

Steven opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the ringing of his Crosstransceiver. There was no picture for the caller, but Riley's contact information sprung up. Steven answered on the second ring and Riley's face filled the screen. "Riley! Is everyone okay?"

"So far, yes," Riley's calm, even tone responded. "Byron just met us at the dock in Canalave and we took out a mass of Galactic grunts. We're getting ready to leave for-."

"Was anybody hurt?" Steven asked, cutting him off. He just had to know that everyone was okay.

"Not too badly. We'll be doing some bandaging on the boat though, that's for sure," Riley grimaced. "Atticus has a particularly nasty cut on his forehead. Kirari is taking care of it, though."

"I trust you'll keep me updated," Steven said solemnly.

"Of course," Riley agreed. "I must say, though… The grunts out here have already proven to be a lot more than I expected."

"In quality or quantity?" Steven asked with a frown.

"Both." The dark-haired young man looked off to somebody offscreen and nodded. "That's my signal to get going. An old sailor friend is taking us out to Iron Island to take care of the grunts there. I've heard that's where they're keeping supplies."

"Be careful," Steven warned.

"Always," Riley nodded primly. "I'll call later with updates."

Steven watched as Riley's face disappeared from the screen. "See?" May asked him. "Everything's fine. They got in and they're already taking care of business."

"They're not the only ones I'm worried about," Steven said. "I need to hear from Delaney that everything is going alright before I can relax even a little."

"What about Cynthia?" May asked. "Couldn't you call her and see if they've arrived yet?"

"That's a great idea!" Steven exclaimed. He shot a smile at the brunette. "I knew I decided to keep you around for a reason." He pulled up the contact list of his Crosstransceiver and quickly pulled up the information for the Sinnoh champion and hit the call button.

It rang once, twice, three times before her answering machine kicked in.

* * *

It was Lauren who was looking outside of the only window in the cargo hold as they were beginning to descend upon Unova. "Keep a lookout for a very statuesque blonde woman in all black with a roserade," Dax told her. "She's wearing a headband that kind of looks like skitty ears, but black, so it's really hard to miss her."

"We're still too high for me to be able to tell," Lauren said. Delaney trusted her judgment because, after all, she wasn't sure how high they were since her eyes were still closed. In fact, they were closed even more tightly now that the plane was starting to descend. She was half waiting for a box to fly at her face, just in the spirit of tradition.

"We're almost there, though… right?" Jackson asked hesitantly.

"Yes, sicky, and you better dispose of your barf bag the moment you get off this plane," Dax said disdainfully.

Somehow, despite Sawyer's incessant snoring, Ren, Brawly and Percy had all managed to fall asleep. Now that they were almost there, it was nearly time to wake them all up.

The plane made a sharp turn west and began to ascend once again. The sudden movement was enough to wake even Sawyer. The only eyes that remained shut were Delaney's, and she buried her head in her hands. "Shit shit shit, what's wrong?" she muttered to herself. "Shit shit shit."

The loudspeaker, which had gone unused for almost the entire trip, clicked on and the voice of Cody, Steven's pilot friend from childhood, rang out. "Don't worry, folks, we're not crashing. We're going to head straight to Nacrene."

"I thought Steven said Undella was the safest place to land," a perplexed Sawyer muttered with a yawn, rubbing his eyes.

"Well obviously something has changed," Ren snapped.

"How are we going to get into Unova then? Cynthia was supposed to be helping us…" Dax's voice trailed off. "Arceus, did something happen to Cynthia?"

"We're just going to have to wait and see," Percy spoke up. "Nacrene must be safe enough to land in. Steven wouldn't lead us to danger, after all."

"Nacrene is where the Resistance's base is," Sawyer said, nodding. "I'm sure Cynthia had devised some way for us to get over here undetected from Undella, which is pretty disconnected from the main part of Unova, but we're going straight there instead. Next to somewhere as disconnected as Undella, Nacrene would be the safest place for us to land. We've got back-up built in already."

"I thought most of them didn't have pokemon anymore," Delaney spoke up, lifting her head from her hands and opening her eyes for the first time since they had changed course. Her eye make-up had smudged, leaving black smears on her cheeks and her face was pale and clammy. "Isn't that what Burgh said in the meeting?"

"Listen, I hate to be the one to break it to you," Ren started. "But for the kind of fighting we need to do to beat these guys, we're not going to need pokemon."

"Well we can't do it without them," Dax argued. He had paled slightly at the implications of Ren's words. "I mean, really, can you imagine me doing hand-to-hand combat with some muscleheaded Galactic grunt?"

"You're making several generalizations that are only going to hurt you in the end," Ren said. "One, that these grunts are fighters. Most of them are pathetic, emptyheaded followers that rely on the pokemon they steal from others to do their dirty work. Two, you're implying that we're all stronger as trainers than as fighters. I could kick ass seven ways from Sunday with my pokemon, but I'm not Susie Elite Four over here," she said, gesturing at Delaney. "Those grunts should be a lot more afraid of me snapping their necks than losing to me in a battle."

"I can't do that," Dax said, paling further. "I can't, like, _kill _someone. Not even one of those Galactic or Plasma grunts."

"Well I hate to break it to you, kid, but there's a death wish on each and every one of our heads. When some idiot Plasgalactic member sees you, all he's going to think about is how much Cyrus or Ghetsis want you dead and what a nice reward they would get for bringing your corpse back with them to their headquarters." She turned her head to Delaney. "And if you especially think Ghetsis and Cyrus are going to roll over because your big, strong pokemon had a type advantage over theirs, you're fucking stupid. They are going to pull out every dirty trick in the book to make sure the day ends with your blood on their hands." Delaney wasn't really sure how to respond to this, so she kept her mouth shut. She so far hadn't really thought about fighting Cyrus and Ghetsis again, and she preferred to keep it that way.

Ren sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to scare you guys, but I just want you to be prepared for what's going to happen. I _fought _with those bastards and they're not screwing around. Just remember that this is a war, not a gym battle. Winning a pokemon battle doesn't mean you're going to be alive at the end of this."

* * *

"My gym leaders should already be there," Lance said. "Clair, Jasmine, Surge and Pryce left for Sinnoh days ago, and Blue, Sabrina, Koga and Morty left before they did. Have you heard from either group you sent out there?"

"The head of my Sinnoh group, Riley, called me a little earlier to let me know they made it," Steven told him. "But I haven't heard from the Unova group yet. They just left this morning though. They should be nearly in Undella by now. I'm sure I'll hear from either Cynthia or Delaney, the head of the Unova group, pretty soon."

"Undella?" Lance asked. "I thought you asked me to send my group to Nacrene."

"Yes, but-" Steven was cut off by Brenna entering the room. The fact that she had walked into his office without knocking was enough to make the Hoenn champion concerned, as she was usually well-mannered and polite. "Is everything alright?"

"Cody is on line 2," Brenna said quietly.

"Lance, I'll have to call you later," Steven said and he hung up before the dragon master could even respond. He immediately clicked the button to send line 2 to his office phone. "Cody? What's wrong?"

"Steven, calm down," the ever-calm pilot responded. "We made it to Unova safely."

"You're in Undella?" Steven said, sighing with relief.

"We're just outside of Nacrene," Cody stated.

"What?" Steven asked, confused. "But you were supposed to go to Undella. Cynthia is waiting for you there."

"Somebody had to have been tipped off about them coming. Undella was swarmed with grunts. Their safety was compromised. Even if Cynthia is waiting, I couldn't land there without them immediately being swamped."

"But…" For once, Steven Stone was at a loss for words.

"There was nowhere safer than Nacrene to go," Cody explained. "Sure, they'll have to knock down a few grunts, but there are less of them here because of the Resistance. Is there anyone there you can call to let them know the group is here?"

"I'll give Lenora a call," Steven said. "But… I just don't get it… How could they have been tipped off? And how did they just swoop in? Cynthia told me that the citizens of Undella have an agreement with Ghetsis where Galactic or Plasma isn't in their town in exchange for the citizens acting as the eyes and ears of Galactic on that side of Unova. She said she had found a way to magnify the effects of her roserade's grasswhistle to knock them all out for long enough for everyone to land. How did they get past that? And how did they get past Cynthia?" In stark contrast from his wordlessness just moments ago, he was now rambling, trying to piece together how Cynthia's plan possibly could have failed.

"I don't know," Cody said with a shrug. "I can go back to Undella after they're all safely in Nacrene if you want. Check on her, see if she's okay, that sort of thing."

"That's okay, Cody. I wouldn't want you to put yourself in any more danger," Steven said. "I should call Lucian, though. See if he knows anything…"

"Maybe she just needed to head back to Sinnoh early," the pilot suggested. "It's not exactly sunshine and roses in Sinnoh either."

"I know it's not, but that's not like her. I'm worried," Steven said with a frown. He paused. "How is everyone? Are they okay?"

"They seem fine," Cody responded, taking a look at the group of people who had just climbed out of his cargo load. "A couple of them seemed to get tossed around a bit back there. The blonde boy with the scarf has a nice shiner and the younger brunette girl has a cut on her cheek that the old man is bandaging. I think some of the cargo was bouncing around and may have hit them."

"Will you tell Delaney to call me when they reach the Resistance headquarters?" Steven asked. "I'm pretty sure that's the younger brunette you were talking about."

"Of course," Cody said. "I'll be heading back to Hoenn shortly."

"Be careful," Steven warned. "If Galactic has some sort of all-seeing, all-knowing eye out there, you could very well be on their radar."

* * *

"What do you mean, _get rid of him? _We can't just _get rid of him_. He's the king of Team Plasma!"

"He's useless," Cyrus stated, looking blankly at the Plasma sage who had just voiced his disdain. "He was a nice kid to have around to be the face to the public while we were trying to gain favor, but I'm pretty sure that stage in the plan is over and it's time to get serious. Ghetsis, back me up on this."

The green-haired man tapped his cane on the floor and opened his mouth to speak, but the meeting between Cyrus, Ghetsis and their respective commanders and sages was interrupted by two skeletal, white-haired beings with piercing gray eyes who suddenly appeared in the room. "My loyal triad- wait, where's the other one?"

"He's gone," the one on Ghetsis' left said in a hushed voice.

"He's _dead_," the other spat.

"How?" Ghetsis asked, enraged. "Stop being so cryptic. What happened?"

"We were watching the Sinnoh champion Cynthia like you asked," the one on the left began. "She was finalizing plans with Steven Stone to get his people into Unova. The grunts were posed to attack, as you asked them to be. Everything was going according to plan. All we were waiting on was for the plane to land."

"And?" Cyrus spoke up, staring stonily at the now Shadow Duo. "What went wrong?"

"She found _him_," the one on the right growled, pointing at his counterpart on the left. "We underestimated her. She's smart. She's… intuitive."

"Of course she is," Ghetsis said exasperatedly. "She didn't get to be the Champion of the Sinnoh region just by playing hopscotch with Bertha."

"Well, by that point, all three of us had to attack her. Our cover was blown," the left Shadow being said. "We managed to pin her down to where she couldn't get to her pokemon and have them attack us."

"And then I stabbed her," the one on the right said matter-of-factly. "I stabbed her several times, and then we got up because we thought she was dead, but she wasn't and she let out her garchomp. _We _managed to get away before it started attacking. He unfortunately did not."

Ghetsis looked at the Shadow beings in shock. "You didn't wait around to see if she-"

"Of course they didn't," Cyrus replied for them, effectively cutting him off. "That garchomp is a monster."

"So where does that leave things?" a concerned Ghetsis asked.

"It leaves things with either a dead or injured champion, which is good for us," Commander Mars spoke up with a hint of glee to her voice.

"Hush," one of the sages scolded. "It's not our turn to speak."

"She's right, though," Cyrus said. "It's one less adversary we have to worry about. One less person that can get in the way and ruin everything. There really isn't anything bad about an incapacitated Cynthia."

"Did the plane land before you left?" Ghetsis asked, changing the subject quickly. "Are they here?"

The Shadow being on the left shook his head. "We did not see them land, and one of the grunts said that they never did. They must have seen us and gone elsewhere."

"There's no way they went back to Hoenn," Cyrus said. "So they're here somewhere. Track them down."

"If I may speak?" asked Commander Jupiter, raising her hand.

"The floor is yours if you have something of importance to say," Cyrus said with a nod.

"I was going to bring this up later in the meeting, but we seem to have gotten off course. One of my grunts was saying that there's been crime against some of our people in Castelia."

"We're aware of this," Ghetsis said curtly.

"Well, think about it," Jupiter said, her hair bouncing off her shoulders as she stood up to address the group. "Who would want to cause harm to Team Galactic?"

"Nearly everyone in Unova or Sinnoh at this point," Mars said from across the table, clearly bored.

"But who has the most to gain from our people being injured? The Resistance, right?" Jupiter asked, her eyes sparkling.

"They are in Nacrene," Cyrus said, also looking bored. "It's but a bike ride away. Maybe one day's trip, if they got started later in the day."

"Well what if they're also in Castelia?" Jupiter proposed, an irritated look coming across her face. Clearly this wasn't going over as smoothly as she'd planned.

"The Resistance isn't large enough to have two bases," Ghetsis stated. "There's eight gym leaders, those stupid children from Nuvema and a handful of others, if that. The Elite Four have gone into hiding and they aren't helping them. Even Alder is nowhere to be found."

"They also just got a pretty substantial addition to their side," Jupiter pointed out. "And need I remind you that this addition includes Delaney Caldwell?"

"Mr. Hotshot Conman was apparently unable to persuade her into not going," Mars said with a roll of her eyes. "Waste of money that guy was."

"All I'm saying is it's something worth checking out," Jupiter said with a frustrated sigh. "Maybe we should have extra eyes on Castelia."

"It's not a horrible idea," Ghetsis said with a shrug. He turned to the Shadow Duo. "Go out to Castelia for two days. Keep your eye out for any of the Resistance members and also for Delaney Caldwell and her little Hoenn crew. If you don't see them by then, come back."

"Yes, my lord," the Shadow duo said in unison and they disappeared just as quickly as they came.

"I also don't think it would hurt to move some extra grunts in Castelia for the next few days," Ghetsis stated.

"Why not just move them into Nacrene?" Mars asked. "Cyrus said himself that that's where the Headquarters is."

"It would be idiotic to send our people right into their hands," Cyrus said flatly. "Especially now that more of them are either there or on their way."

"But we could swarm them, just like you were going to do in Undella!" Mars protested.

"The general populace of Undella is sympathetic towards us as long as we leave them alone for the most part. They would not have interfered with us charging Delaney Caldwell and her allies the moment they stepped foot in Undella. Nacrene is less likely to be as liberal about something of that nature. It's more likely that the citizens are Resistance sympathizers and would probably fight along with the Resistance. It would be needless damage to our side," Cyrus explained.

"We can wait for them to come to Castelia," Ghetsis said, nodding in agreement. "They'll play right into our hands."

* * *

**Author's Note (2/24/13): **In our newest update in the ongoing saga of "how technology is not DAT's friend", I had a very unfortunate incident occur towards the beginning of the month that prevented me from updating. My flash drive, which contained everything for my research project as well as the only complete outline for this story, got into a very unfortunate accident and I was unable to get anything off of it. Thankfully for me, all but the research studies I used for a literature review had been sent via email to my professor, so he was able to help me recover my work. However, the outline... Pretty much gone. This ended up working out in my favor though and it is resulting in a massive overhaul of the ending. I still haven't completely finished a new outline so I'm kind of playing by ear, but I already like how it's turning out much better.

So... War time! Things are about to get pretty crazy. This is the part where I remind you that this story is rated T for a reason, and depending on how violent or crazy the ending gets when I finish the outline, it MAY actually have to go up. The second to last thing I want is to violate a rule and get this taken down and the last thing I want is to offend someone, so just... be aware...

A huge thanks all of you who read and reviewed the last chapter, as the comments and suggestions that you all made actually played a big part in what I've done with the outline thus far, and actually helped me decide to retool things rather than just try to recreate my outline. I really appreciate the constructive criticism I've been given with this story- it really has helped a TON. So thanks reviewers! And thanks readers! I love you all for spending some time with these characters who I've really grown to love a lot. :)

And as always, a huge thanks to my fabulous, fabulous beta, **Noteleks**, who has been bouncing around ideas with me for weeks and been just a huge help in general. :)

Chapter 16 will be up fairly soon, as I've already started. The next week or so is going to be a little crazy for me, as I've got a LOT going on in terms of school and meetings for my extracurriculars. Thanks for being patient with me, guys. :)

~DAT


	17. 16: Tell Them She's Not Scared

_This may sound really morbid, but going back to Unova has really made me think about what I want to have accomplished before I die- my bucket list, if you will. I mean, we're walking into a war, so it's not like it's so farfetched to think about death._

_Of course, there's the things everyone wants, like getting married and having kids. I would love the chance to finish up my Unova journey. Being an Elite Four for real would be nice, as would traveling on my own terms. I want the chance to be a better trainer to my pokemon, the chance to be a better friend to Dax and Sawyer, the chance to be a good girlfriend or wife eventually._

_Realistically, I could reach my end in Unova before ever getting to see my parents again, or the pokemon that traveled with me in Sinnoh, or my childhood friends. I could die before getting to see Unova and Sinnoh freed from Galactic and Plasma. I could die without getting to say my thanks, my apologies, my goodbyes. That scares the hell out of me._

_But that's not going to come easily. Cyrus and Ghetsis better prepare themselves for one hell of a fight, because if there's some chance I'm not walking out of there, I'm not going to make it easy for them._

* * *

**Chapter 16: Tell Them She's Not Scared  
**

"Del, I can't do this," came the panicked murmurs of Dax as they watched Jackson's flygon spouting flames at a group of three grunts as Jackson himself kicked off a hefty Galactic grunt who had managed to pin him down. "I didn't… I mean, I guess I-"

"You've got this," Delaney replied through clenched teeth, even though she wasn't so sure. "_We've _got this." That one, she was even less sure about. It didn't matter how sure of herself she felt though, because there was no time to focus on anything but what was in front of them. Delaney, Sawyer, Nicolai and Dax were really just observers, as Ren had ordered them to wait in front of the museum and to keep their pokemon out, just in case. Sawyer had let out Flapjack, who was now a larger-than-average ampharos, and Delaney had let Perry hold down the fort, but they had been doing little more than releasing little sparks and torrents of water and snarling at anybody who even looked funny at their trainers. Nicolai had taken up residence even closer to the former museum and gym that the Resistance had made into their headquarters, surrounded by Reno, his trusty chandelure, and a very angry-looking grumpig named Stanley who looked ready to run down anyone who came within a yard of Nicolai.

"But Del," Dax said anxiously. "Del, I really, _really _can't do this."

"Dax," Delaney said sharply, looking over at him. "I get that you're scared. I'm scared too. We came here to fight, so we're gonna fight."

"But I can't." His words were rushed and jumbled.

"Dax, yes you can. You're one of the best trainers in Sinnoh. Arceus, you're going to be Champion one day," Delaney said, exasperation apparent in her voice. "It's only going to get harder from here on out."

"Del, you're not hearing me," Dax murmured, an urgent tone to his voice. "I'm trying to tell you that I can't do this. Literally. I can't fight."

"We just talked about this on the plane," Sawyer cut in. "No, we can't imagine you punching some brute grunt in the face. That's why the four of us are here, guarding the stronghold with our pokemon."

"I don't have any pokémon!" Dax exploded. Delaney and Sawyer both stared at the blonde boy, eyes wide.

"You… What?" Sawyer finally asked.

"That's why I've been staying at the Battle Frontier with my parents," he said, a flush coming to his cheeks. "A couple months after Galactic took total control of Sinnoh and Unova, I got in a fight with that red-headed Galactic bitch commander. She… She, uh… she has my pokemon."

Delaney wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so she told Dax to just let Perry, Flapjack and Nicolai's pokemon handle things, though she definitely agreed with Sawyer, who mumbled "Wish you had told us sooner…"

Ren had been correct in her assumption that anything that needed to be done required just Jackson, Lauren, Brawly and herself… Though as soon as Ren had left to go fight the good fight, Percy had ran off to join as well. There really were not that many grunts in Nacrene (the Resistance had made sure of that), but just watching made Delaney feel as nauseous as she imagined how doing the fighting herself would make her feel.

It all went by so fast- one moment, a ginger-haired female Plasma grunt had been lunging towards Dax. The next, Ren had grabbed the grunt and snapped her neck in half and let her drop to the ground. Delaney hardly had time to let her jaw drop before witnessing Lauren tackling a younger male grunt and wrapping her hands around his throat.

It was a good thing for Delaney that Perry was out and on the rampage, as she was rooted to the cobbled paths of Nacrene, unable to follow anything but the chaos rolling out in front of her. A mangled cry escaped her throat as she watched Ren tackle another grunt. The young male grunt was barely more than a rag doll in the young woman's arms as she picked his lanky body up from the ground and proceeded to smash his skull into a nearby building so many times that Delaney lost count. When Ren let her go, the terrified look on his face had been beaten into a bloody pulp.

It didn't really register until then that she was watching people _die._Of course, she had seen Alex die, and surely some Galactic grunts had to have been disposed of back on Mount Coronet, but it was different (and far more difficult) to watch when it was no longer "_the bad guys_" who were responsible for the killing, but instead, her friends, people she knew were good people, people that she respected- and at some point, it would be _her_. Of course, it was a war, and people died in wars. Her friends weren't killing for the fun of killing, but to try to end Galactic's reign, and that was different, but _still_, that didn't make it any easier to watch.

"Del, look," Sawyer murmured urgently from her other side and pointed to their right. She turned to look where he was pointing and saw Lauren repeatedly stabbing the same hefty Galactic grunt that Jackson had forced off of himself earlier.

Delaney winced. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it really was no worse than Ren smashing a boy's face in or Jackson lighting a group on fire using his flygon. "Yes?"

"Del,_look_," Sawyer said again, grabbing her forearm.

"Sawyer, I'm not sure what you're talking about," Delaney said as she stared at Lauren, her curly hair bouncing up and down off of her shoulders with each stabbing motion.

"Delaney, doesn't that look a little too familiar to you?" he asked, his voice becoming exasperated.

As Lauren moved on to a new target, a muscular male grunt with dark skin and dark eyes, Delaney stared after her, but she was pretty sure that she wasn't seeing what Sawyer was trying to point out to her.

Sawyer sighed. "Lauren… That's the girl from Dewford Cave. The one that went after Team Magma."

* * *

"Delaney!" she heard a voice call from down the street. She looked up to see Ren standing and waving at her. "Go ahead inside! There's only a few of them left!"

"Oh thank Arceus," Dax muttered as he released his hold on Delaney. He didn't have to be told twice to go into the building. Delaney, however, still stood there.

"Arceus, I promise it's okay. Just go," Ren insisted.

"Is anyone hurt?" Delaney asked.

"Jackson is a bit bruised up and Lauren may or may not have a slight head injury, but other than that, we're fine. Just let us take care of some last minute things. Percy and Brawly are heading back this way too," Ren assured her.

As if her words were magic, the two turned the corner and appeared. The right sleeve of Brawly's hoodie had been torn and was now dangling by a few threads and his face was smudged with dirt. Percy, on the other hand, seemed completely fine. As they came closer to Delaney, she could see that there was even a smug little smile on Percy's face. Delaney raised her eyebrows. "My druddigon showed them a thing or two," he said with a wide grin. "Think that they've got an easy win because they're facing an old man, no siree…" The two headed towards the museum, stopping to talk to Nicolai, who called back his pokemon and walked inside with them.

"Delaney, there are only a handful of grunts left. We'll follow you in just a minute. Go ahead. They're waiting for you."

Delaney merely nodded. "You'll come back for us if you need us, right?"

"Of course, what do you think I am, stupid?" Ren asked with a laugh. "Go!"

It was Sawyer who returned his pokemon first. "I'm going to trust her judgment on this one," he explained.

"But what if-" Delaney began, but Sawyer swiftly cut her off.

"Delaney, she knows what she's doing better than we do. If she thinks they can handle it, they can handle it." Delaney nodded and called Perry back, though she still didn't feel completely sure about it. Sawyer put his hand on her shoulder. "I don't mean to seem so casual about all of this, but it's only going to get harder from here on out, and that's when they'll really need us. Might as well save our strength, right?" he asked pointedly.

Delaney nodded. "I'm not upset or anything… I just feel kind of useless."

Sawyer shook his head. "Far from it. But when it comes down to it, none of the rest of us are really as equipped to deal with Cyrus as you are, so we can't really let you get hurt before it comes down to that, can we?"

Delaney sighed. "That's really what it comes down to, doesn't it? Me and Cyrus, all over again."

"That's always what it was going to come down to," Sawyer said quietly. "We just have to get ready as best we can." He shot a small smile at Delaney. "Come on, let's go inside. They're probably waiting for you."

* * *

The former Nacrene gym, which also moonlighted as a museum and a magnificent library, took on another role once Cyrus and Ghetsis established their hold on Unova- it was the headquarters of the Unovan Resistance. Nacrene was a small enough city that the former gym leaders could easily eradicate most of the Plasma presence, but large enough to show Cyrus and Ghetsis that they weren't backing down and joining their side.

Seeing as how most gym leaders didn't even have pokemon anymore and would be forced to go through either Castelia or Striaton to go anywhere (both of which were Galactic strongholds), the two men apparently weren't worried about letting the former gym leaders have Nacrene. They figured once the small resistance group ran out of supplies (and out of hope), they would come crawling to pledge their loyalty anyways.

Walking into the former Nacrene gym was like walking into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Cobwebs hung from every surface, the exhibits had been knocked down in what had clearly been an intense fight and not a soul could be seen. Delaney and Sawyer looked around the former museum anxiously. "What if this-" Sawyer began.

Delaney cut him off, knowing what he was going to say. "This is not a trap," she said firmly. "Cody is Steven's friend. He wouldn't have brought us to Nacrene if it wasn't safe. Besides, weren't you here for almost two years? You should know better than me that this is pretty legit."

"It's been almost two years," Sawyer retorted, cringing as he looked around the room. "What if Plasma took this place over awhile ago and nobody told Steven and we're just walking right into a-"

"Who's there?" a young man's voice called out faintly, sounding like he was still pretty far away. Delaney could hear the faint sound of footsteps until a figure appeared at the top of the stairs, a sleek liepard by his side.

"Cheren?" Delaney said, looking up at him. In the three years since she had last seen him, he had lost his glasses, grown his hair out slightly and apparently started wearing even tighter pants than before. He also had a scar along the left side of his face that he had never had before.

"Christa… Sorry, Delaney," he said, his eyes widening. He and the liepard walked down the stairs (Delaney couldn't help noticing that he limped slightly) and the black-haired young man gave her a warm hug. "You still have brown hair even though you're not in hiding anymore?"

"Why is that everyone's first question?" Delaney asked, shaking her head and chuckling softly.

"Good to see you again, Sawyer," he greeted the auburn-haired trainer on her right.

"Nice to see you as well," Sawyer said with a nod.

"Well, come on back," Cheren said, gesturing for them to follow him. "Everybody is back here waiting for you. I'm sure they'll be excited to get your blonde friend to finally stop talking."

In the few minutes that she and Sawyer had to get reacquainted with Cheren, Delaney had almost been able to forget that there was a war going on right outside- a war where she had just seen people that she cared about and respected tear others to pieces, a war that was bound to get worse with her very presence. She was reminded of this once Cheren had led them through the library and into Lenora's office, where she had once battled with a herdier and watchog and now housed a host of former gym leaders and prominent trainers.

"Christa!" a chirpy female voice called out that could only belong to one person. A young woman with blonde curls and a pair of glasses quickly got up from where she had previously sat on the floor and bounded towards Delaney and Sawyer. "I mean, sorry, Delaney. I bet everyone is going to do this," Bianca said, wrapping Delaney in a large hug. "It's so amazing to see you! And oh, Arceus, hi Sawyer! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Bianca," Sawyer said with a chuckle as he gave the blonde girl a hug.

Delaney looked past her old friend to see the group of former gym leaders, as well as a few unfamiliar trainers (and of course, Dax, Brawly and Percy, the latter two looking just as bemused as everyone else at Dax's chattering), looking at them expectantly. "Hi!" Delaney said awkwardly, turning red as she looked out at them.

"Welcome back to Unova," a now dark-haired Elesa said with a wry smile. She looked even thinner than she had when Delaney had battled her for the Bolt Badge and she wore a plain black t-shirt, red skinny jeans and black boots with chunky heels, which, for Elesa, was a very demure outfit.

Though really, it was obvious that more than just clothes had changed in the last three years.

"You haven't been in contact with Cynthia by chance, have you?" Drayden asked.

Delaney shook her head. "I haven't spoken to Cynthia since I left Sinnoh about four years ago," she said. "Steven has been the one talking to her. Is everything okay?"

"Well she was who you were supposed to meet in Undella, as you know," Lenora said quietly. "Steven has been trying to call her and she hasn't answered. He's getting pretty worried."

"Aren't there supposed to be more people in your group?" an unfamiliar young man with chestnut brown hair to below his ears and a red cap on his head asked.

"They're finishing off the last of the Galactic grunts out there," Delaney said.

"You probably don't know him, huh?" Bianca asked. "This is Wyatt. He's a trainer like you were, except not in disguise. He's been super helpful to us."

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Caldwell," he said with a smile, taking his hat off and tipping it in her direction.

"Who else don't you know…" Bianca asked, though more to herself than Delaney, as she looked around the room.

"Us," a man with graying teal hair said, gesturing to a small group of people that Delaney had overlooked the first time around in her excitement to see the familiar faces of old friends. She wasn't exactly sure how she had missed seeing him the first time around, as she didn't see too many people who looked like ninjas every day. The man looked like he was ready to jump up and fight at the slightest provocation. Next to this man was a younger man with tall spiky hair the color of cinnamon and a perpetual smirk. A tall, lithe young woman with dark hair and a calculating glance sat cross-legged next to him, while a slim blonde-haired man in his late twenties in with a purple headband and scarf leaned against the wall next to her.

"Oh DUH!" Bianca said. "I should've started with these guys! These," she said, gesturing towards the group, "are the gym leaders that Lance sent over… Well, Blue, Sabrina and Morty are gym leaders. Koga is one of the Elite Four! They all have pokemon and that's super awesome, because well, most of us don't."

"Koga," the older man said, extending his hand. He shook her hand with a slightly painful grip. "That's Blue," he said, nodding towards the younger guy with the spiky hair. "That's Sabrina." She was obviously the female with the calculating stare. "And that's Morty." Morty, of course, was the only one left in the group- the blonde with the purple accessories.

"Nice to meet you all," Delaney said with a smile. She opened her mouth to ask about their pokemon and their gyms, but Bianca cut her off before she had the chance.

"Oh! And those two are Nate and Rosa!" Bianca said, waving her arms in the general direction of two younger trainers. One was male, with wild dark brown hair and a red visor, while his female friend had a bun on each side of her head, her long brown hair cascading down from them. "They're total newbie trainers, but Galactic doesn't know them, so they can walk around freely without being recognized as part of the Resistance."

"Thanks for the introductions, Bianca," Lenora said evenly, not giving the trainers time for common courtesies. "Now that we all know who's on our side, we have some important matters to discuss."

"Of course," Bianca said, her face turning red. "Sorry, Lenora."

"No need to apologize, dear," the woman said warmly. "We just have a lot more to catch everyone up on than just names and faces. Where are the rest of the trainers from Hoenn?"

"They were, uh, finishing up business with some Galactic grunts," Delaney said.

Lenora turned to face the group. "Will someone please go check on them and see what the hold-up is?" she asked.

"I'll go," Sawyer volunteered. "Since I know who to look for."

"Thanks, Sawyer," Lenora said with a smile. She looked sharply at the group of gym leaders. "If he's not back in ten minutes, I want you all out there." The gym leaders nodded their general consensus. Lenora turned and focused all of her attention back on Delaney. "Delaney, we're obviously all in a lot of danger. It seems that you got mixed up in something pretty serious even before you came to Unova, and the fact that you made yourself an enemy of Team Plasma only exacerbated the problems."

"Sorry," Delaney said, turning crimson. "If it's any consolation, I was really trying my hardest not to do that."

"Trouble still would've found you regardless because of Team Galactic," Lenora retorted. "Delaney, let me tell you a story. You see, in Unova, we have an old legend about two heroes. One of these heroes fought for truths. The other fought for ideals. It seems that Reshiram recognized N of Team Plasma as a hero. That is why he appeared to N at Dragonspiral Tower."

"What?" Delaney asked blankly. "I thought you said this was a legend."

"It has always been a legend, since before any of us were ever born. Team Plasma made it very clear three years ago that it was not just a legend. Reshiram appeared to N, the leader of Team Plasma, and they have been using its power to establish rule over Unova and to scare people into giving up their pokemon. It has unfortunately been incredibly successful."

Delaney wasn't exactly sure where Lenora was going with these stories of myth and legend, nor where she was going with how this pertained to what they were trying to do. Delaney had been at Dragonspiral Tower. She had seen N and Reshiram. This was all old news. "So what do we do then?"

"Well, Delaney, according to these legends, there is another hero," Lenora began.

Delaney's eyes widened. "Oh, Lenora, come on. You're not-"

"Well, we don't know for sure," Lenora said hastily. "But really, you're our best bet."

"I am _not _a hero," Delaney said firmly. "And especially not some sort of legendary hero."

"I understand your reluctance," Lenora said calmly. "But think about it this way. They have the legendary Reshiram on their side. How else do you think we can beat them but with a legendary pokemon of our own?"

"So you just want me to go all crazy and start hunting down legendary pokemon to use at my own leisure?" Delaney asked, slightly horrified. "That sounds absolutely insane."

"Of course not!" Lenora assured her. "Please, let me finish. Do you remember when you were here battling me three years ago and Team Plasma stole one of my exhibits?"

"Yeah," Delaney said, frowning at the memory. "It was… a skull, or something, right?"

"It was the skull of a dragonite," Lenora said. "Reshiram is a dragon. They believed that the skull would help them understand how to awaken the legendary dragon. Fortunately for all of us, the dragonite skull had nothing to do with anything."

"But they still found a way to awaken it," Delaney pointed out.

"They found a stone in the desert. It is called the light stone and it contained Reshiram after it lost its physical form. There was another stone, though- the dark stone, which contained another legendary pokemon. Zekrom was the dragon of the other hero, the hero of ideals."

"They don't have this dark stone, do they?" Delaney asked.

"No," Lenora began slowly. "We do."

A pin dropping could be heard in the still silence that encompassed the room. It was broken quickly by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. Sawyer led down a bruised Jackson, a bleeding Lauren and a triumphant-looking Ren. "Oh, thank goodness you're all okay!" Bianca cried, rushing to tend to the injured trainers.

Lenora's eyes were trained on Delaney. "I know this is a lot of ask of you after all that's happened already, but we need you. Maybe you're not this hero of ideals, but it's worth a shot. Will you take the dark stone?"

There was only one possible answer to this question. "Of course I will," Delaney said softly.

* * *

A heavy onyx-colored stone now took up residence at the bottom of Delaney's bag, weighing on her shoulder more than just slightly. Jackson had a nice shiner that Bianca was forcing him to ice and Lauren's "slight head injury" had actually been more than just slight and she was bleeding from her forehead (another injury that, of course, Bianca was taking care of). Ren had fared well out there, causing more injuries than she had received, and she was more than happy to share her tales of "Plasgalactic bashing" with all Resistance members who wanted to hear.

Most were riveted (whether out of legitimate interest or horror, it was hard to tell) by Ren's stories, but two stood to the side and talked amongst themselves. Cheren and Lenora were having what appeared to be a very animated conversation that Delaney was almost positive was going to include her in the near future. She half-listened to Ren's stories, but kept her eye on the two. She was definitely not surprised when Cheren headed her way a mere ten minutes later.

"I figured," Delaney sighed before Cheren could say a word. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"Oh, that was easy," Cheren said, surprised. "We'll get you ready to head to Castelia then."

"Castelia?" Delaney asked, confused. "I mean, I want to help however I can, but isn't that one of Galactic's primary locations? Why in the hell am I going to Castelia?"

"Okay, hear me out… Though I'm pretty sure you're going to argue with me," Cheren added hastily. "So a few days ago, we heard a rumor."

"That's solid," Delaney remarked dryly.

"We heard a rumor that there was another resistance group that is based in the underground sewers of Castelia," Cheren continued, ignoring the brunette, even as she made a noise that made her disdain for the sewers evident. "Of course, there are very small, unorganized groups of people who resist Galactic everywhere, but they don't last. According to rumor, this is a pretty big group that is still armed with their pokemon. Apparently Ghetsis tried to send grunts in there to get rid of them and they were absolutely slaughtered. Their remains eventually washed up."

"That's disgusting," Delaney said, wrinkling her nose. "How do we know they won't butcher us?"

"Because we're Resistance members, obviously," Cheren explained, as though the answer was obvious. "And because_you're _Delaney Caldwell."

"I don't know," Delaney said uneasily. "That seems really risky."

"Risk none, reward none," Cheren retorted. "We just thought you would be a good person to go and try to make contact because well, you're Delaney. You have pull. And frankly, we could use all of the help we can get."

That was all that was needed to convince Delaney. "Well, whatever I can do to help." Really, it didn't sound that bad, though she was really hoping she didn't have to go alone.

"What's going on?" Sawyer piped up. Apparently story time with Ren was over and now people were paying attention to them.

"There's said to be another Resistance group in Castelia," Lenora answered loudly. "Cheren was bringing up this idea with Delaney."

"What, you want her to go?" Jackson asked. "Why Delaney?"

"As I was just explaining," Cheren cut in. "Delaney being who she is would have pull. If we could get these people to work with us, then we would really be increasing our numbers for going into the Plasma headquarters. We realize it's kind of risky, but we haven't really had anybody that we could possibly send, since Galactic is pretty familiar with us all... Except Nate and Rosa, of course, but they have no way to defend themselves if something were to go wrong."

Jackson frowned. "And they're not familiar with her? What if something were to happen to her?"

Delaney looked at Jackson in confusion. "Man, you must have really hit your head…"

He grunted in irritation. "No, I am not getting all sentimental and shit," he said. "But look at it this way- she's kind of the face of this fight, is she not?"

Delaney wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I don't like that at all."

"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not," Jackson retorted. "You are, and that's that. If something bad happens to her when she goes out to this resistance group- if she gets caught along the way, if this group turns out to be a trap, whatever- then we lose our face. We lose our leader. Everyone else loses hope."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said about me," Delaney said, mildly impressed.

"Don't get the warm fuzzies," Jackson said, rolling his eyes at the brunette. "All I'm saying is that you're the only person who has stood up to Cyrus and been successful… Well, successful at the time, but still. As long as you're alive, people are going to believe that you can triumph again."

"She obviously couldn't go alone," Sawyer jumped in.

"Obviously," Lenora agreed. "We need someone extremely familiar with Castelia… And is anyone even remotely familiar with this underground sewer complex? Because really, the last thing we need is Delaney Caldwell getting lost in the sewers." She sighed. "This would be a really great time for Burgh to be here."

"I kind of know my way around," a shy voice volunteered. Delaney looked to see Nicolai turning red. "I was born in Castelia. The underground complex is pretty new, but I've at least been inside."

"I've been in there as well," the boy in the red cap (Wyatt, Delaney believed his name was) joined in. "I wasn't raised in Castelia or anything, but I know it pretty well."

"Wyatt, Nicolai, do you want to go with her?" Cheren asked.

"Yeah, sure," Wyatt said. Nicolai merely nodded his agreement.

"And you're okay with going?" Cheren asked Delaney.

Delaney nodded, more sure now that she knew she would have help. "Whatever I can do to help," she repeated.

Because really, that's what it came down to.

* * *

**Author's Note (03/15/13): **Hello all, and welcome back! We've in Unova, y'all! Dax has no pokemon, Lauren went after Team Magma, Lenora is pretty much in charge of the Resistance and now Delaney has the Dark Stone and is going to Castelia... Bam.

But anyways... I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, but you all know me well enough by know to know that I'm not someone with the opportunity to post every week anyways but I'm doing what I can. I'm trying to write at least a little bit every day, but that's still not always possible... Right now I'm kind of in crazy mode. I am signed up to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination... Basically the SAT's to get into graduate school) on March 28th and I have a LOT of studying between now and then, as well as tutoring for the math section. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I won't have to take it again. :)

A huge thank you to **Tyltalis**, for the character of Lauren, and **ej92**, for the character of Nicolai. Some more OC's will be popping up verrrry soon.

And of course, a huge thank you to my fantastic beta and friend **Noteleks**.

Lastly, a HUGEEEEEE thank you to all of you who read and/or review this story. I think I'm a little behind on review responses right now, but I'll catch up eventually. Just know that you all are so appreciated and you all make my days so much better. I love getting to write this story and I'm glad you (hopefully) enjoy it.

Chapter 17... is in progress and will stay in progress for awhile. It will continue to be written, little by little, just as this chapter was. Be patient with me. :)

Thank you all! See you next time!

~DAT


	18. 17: I Feel It In My Bones

_In most tragedies, the focus automatically goes to the bad guys. Who did this? Why did they go it? Even in this war, we look to Cyrus and Ghetsis and Teams Plasma and Galactic and we try to make sense of it, even if there is no making sense of it. What's beautiful about__a tragedy__, though, is it also brings out the helpers and the healers and the leaders. Not only did the actions of Cyrus and Ghetsis bring out the bad in people who might follow them, but they also brought out the good in the people willing to fight against them, the people who know they might find severe repercussions for helping out the other side, but they do it for the sake of helping. Maybe that's why I liked The Nascence at first- I thought they were the helpers. I thought they could make a difference, even a small one, for the people suffering back home._

_And really, they were the helpers. Maybe not Ben and Anna, but Ren, Lauren, Kirari, Cam- they all believed they were helping. And now they're helping fight Team Galactic and Team Plasma._

_For every dark, there is light. And for every bad, there is good._

* * *

**Chapter 17: I Feel It In My Bones**

The night sky was beginning to lighten slightly as Delaney sat poking the fire with a stick, trying to move the embers about. She didn't need to look at the watch on her Crosstransceiver to tell her it was nearly time for the sun to come up. She had volunteered for the final watch shift- there was no way that they could possibly sleep in a dark forest with Team Plasma potentially lurking without somebody staying awake and keeping an eye out. Delaney and Wyatt had gone to bed soon after a small dinner of hot dogs and lukewarm beans, with Nicolai promising that he and Reno would be the first to take guard duty.

Not that they had been able to fall right asleep, of course. Despite not being able to sleep the night before, waking up at an unnaturally early hour and then having a ridiculously stressful day, Delaney's eyes had refused to shut and as a result, she had tossed and turned in her poorly insulated sleeping bag. It wasn't that Nicolai was a bad trainer, or that she didn't trust him to keep guard over her and Wyatt… But she couldn't help feeling like the moment she closed her eyes, she would instantly wake up to screaming and battling.

"You can't sleep either?" Wyatt had asked, looking over at her.

"After a day like today, I should be sleeping like a baby, but I can't," she grimaced.

"Uncomfortable?" Wyatt asked. "Or just paranoid?"

"A little of column A, a little of column B," Delaney had replied.

"I know what you mean," he said, nodding. "Even back at headquarters, I'm hesitant to go to sleep. I'm kind of used to it now, though. I mean, it's been that way for years, ever since they first took over."

Delaney wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, though it left her with a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Sure, she had spent the first year and a half after the incident at Dragonspiral in a room in Ecruteak just waiting for Cyrus to find her, but since those days, she had slept pretty well, either sharing rooms in Pokemon Centers with Sawyer or in a posh king-sized bed in Evergrande… While back here in Unova, there were people terrified to go to sleep because they didn't know what they would wake up to.

"I'm sorry," Wyatt had said quietly. "I didn't mean anything by that. I just… Well, I know how you feel. I mean, I couldn't possibly know how you feel, with everything that happened-"

"It's okay," Delaney cut him off. "We'll all have our nightmares about all of this when it's done and over." She rolled over to face Wyatt. "But hopefully soon, we won't have to be afraid to sleep. Hopefully it'll all be over."

Wyatt had smiled then. "It will be," he had said.

"You're pretty optimistic." Delaney had raised her eyebrows, surprised. How was he able to be so positive after everything that had happened over the last three years? She hadn't even been in Unova and she was having a hard time thinking on the bright side.

"This is the first time in years that we've had anything to be optimistic about," he had said.

Then, of course, Nicolai had wandered away from the campfire, over to where Delaney and Wyatt had rolled out their sleeping bags in dark foliage, so that they wouldn't be seen if there was to be an attack. "Are you two still awake?" Nicolai had asked, yawning.

Seeing Nicolai's eyes droop, Wyatt had offered to take over the guard post, stating that he wasn't tired at all and that Nicolai and Delaney had been through a lot that day and _why don't you two sleep for a few hours? It's okay, I promise!_

And somehow, after that, Delaney was able to get a few hours of uneasy sleep.

Now, though, in the early hours of the morning, she was wide-awake, with Nicolai's small snores in the distance as the two boys slept. She carelessly fingered the wig that Lenora had gotten for her to disguise herself, a cheap polyester mess of carrot orange hair that was charred black at the ends on the right side, thanks to Reno. Not that the disguise was going to do them much good anyways, but it had appeased Lenora and quieted Sawyer and Jackson. Delaney wasn't sure how they thought a polyester costume wig would fool Cyrus or Ghetsis when dyeing her hair and getting contacts hadn't done the trick, but they seemed to think it could safely get her into the sewers. She wasn't so sure.

The sun was beginning to come up. They would see soon.

* * *

Lenora, too, was watching the sun come up while most other trainers slept in dirty, poorly insulated sleeping bags on the floor of what used to be her gym, just as they had done for years now. Something about this morning felt different, though. It had kept Lenora from sleeping well the night before, and it was keeping her from sleeping any longer. Despite this lack of sleep though, she was oddly awake.

Hawes, her husband, was not, though, and he could not understand why his wife was standing in front of the large library window watching the sun come up. "Honey, why are you awake? It's too early."

"The sun's coming up," she said, not turning away from the window.

"And it's lovely, and you're lovely, but come on, let's get back to sleep," Hawes said pleadingly. He was clearly still tired, and yawns punctuated his speech.

"Go ahead and go back to bed," Lenora said, finally turning to face her husband. "I couldn't sleep if I wanted to."

* * *

In her time away from Unova, she had forgotten all about the diversity in weather patterns that seemed to change at just a moment's notice. In Hoenn, it was all sun and high temperatures most of the day, with an occasional rain storm here and there. In the year and a half she spent in Johto, it had rained maybe a handful of time and had been all pleasant, mild temperatures with decent cloud coverage the rest of the time. Now, as she, Wyatt and Nicolai biked up Skyarrow Bridge heading to Castelia City, the strong gales of wind threatened to blow her cheap wig right off. She had attacked it with an army of bobby pins that she had found in her bag, but even those seemed to do nothing but pulled at her natural hair and make her anxiously await their arrival in Castelia.

Wyatt and Nicolai were good sports and tried to talk to her to keep her mind off of it and make the time go faster, though by the end of their bike ride, all three had aching calves and thighs and Delaney had a massive headache. They got off their bikes and returned them to the bike racks at the entrance gates. A Plasma member in all black fiddled with their Crosstransceiver but didn't even look up as Delaney walked by. A few beeps and sound effects indicated that the young man was playing a game. It was nice to know that these Plasma grunts were so competent. Hopefully it would be her job easier.

Though the grunt didn't see that Delaney had literally just passed him by and was heading towards the sewers, another pair of eyes watched from above as two redheads and a brunette teenage male wandered down into the underground sewage. Honchkrow knew better, and he was prepared to communicate to Cyrus that Delaney was right where he wanted her.

* * *

Sawyer had been trying to call Delaney upon waking up late morning. The other travelers coming from Hoenn had not shared in her paranoia of going to bed (likely because they weren't out in the dark woods) and had absolutely crashed after the exhaustion of the previous day. Seeing as how there wasn't much that could currently be done without updates from Delaney, Wyatt and Nicolai, Lenora and Cheren let them sleep- after all, they _should _get plenty of rest now, considering what was coming ahead.

The first to wake up of the group from Hoenn was Jackson, who was completely furious that they had let him sleep that long (though he was easily infuriated by most things, it seemed, so the Unova people let that go without much issue). He, naturally, immediately woke up everyone else from Hoenn, demanded that they get in contact with one of the three dispatched to Castelia, griped that they had let Delaney go yet again and then called Steven to get an update on what was going on in Sinnoh and then asked if he had heard from Delaney, all in that order. Upon hearing Jackson's plentiful freak-outs, Sawyer had also picked up the phone, though the one quick ring that then went straight to voicemail was a good indicator that she either had her Crosstransceiver off or she didn't get service, which made sense considering she was in the sewers.

This common sense did not make sense to the more anxious members of the Hoenn group. Sawyer claimed that if he just kept calling, Delaney was bound to pick up at some point. Jackson stated that they didn't know if Delaney wasn't picking up because maybe Team Galactic had gotten her, which was all the Resistance's fault for sending her. Dax was just starting to panic in general because Delaney was potentially in danger and he couldn't do anything for her, which made him cry. Brawly was speaking anxiously in surfer slang and nobody was really entirely sure what he was saying.

And of course, all of it was driving Lenora insane.

She had responded to their concern by being rational and trying to reach Wyatt, as well as Nicolai, but with both, they ran into the same issue of a short ring and then an automated voicemail message. She rationalized again that they were underground, in the sewers and thus, they didn't have service or they had turned their Crosstransceivers off knowing they wouldn't have service so they could save battery power.

"Team Galactic would turn their phones off if they killed them and were dragging their bodies back to Galactic headquarters to show Cyrus," Jackson responded. Dax went into a new round of sobs.

Lenora sighed.

* * *

It should probably go without saying that it smelled horrible in the sewers, but Delaney was amazed at the unpleasant olfactory overload she was having. It could have something to do with the fact that she was sitting on Perry, who was grimacing as he swam through the sewage, but really, the smell was so much worse than she had anticipated.

Delaney was still unsure that splitting up was the right decision to make, but Nicolai had been right in thinking that covering as much ground as possible was important and if anything, would allow them to get back to Nacrene sooner. Wyatt had been quick to agree, and really, how could Delaney voice her concerns then? She would just have to suck it up and deal with it, and that was precisely what she was doing, hence why she and Perry were currently hesitantly paddling through sewer water.

One minute, the brunette was trying desperately to block out the smell of rot from permeating her sense of smell while also trying to stay perfectly balanced on top of an increasingly irate samurott. The next minute, she was in the water, desperately trying to paddle up to the surface, splashing through sewage water and trying wholeheartedly not to open her mouth underwater. Perry, too, was trying to help her get to the surface, but he was split between trying to help Delaney and trying to shoot an ice beam at… whoever was around. She didn't know or really care who or what was on the surface waiting for her. She just _had to get to the surface, quick._

When finally, Perry clamped down on her shirt and pulled her up, she was almost too busy sputtering and trying to catch her breath to realize that there was a man in all black with a garbodor standing by the rail above her- not to mention the Plasma insignia on his uniform. Perry guided her to a ladder to get back up on the platforms and as she began climbing, she began to wonder why he had ceased attacking her after knocking her into the water. Did he believe that she wouldn't resurface? It was a pretty risky bet to make.

It wasn't until she reached the top of the ladder that she realized that there was something- or someone- distracting the Plasma grunt and his garbodor. A very angry-looking sigilyph was attacking the garbodor, its one blue eye narrowed. Delaney made sure to be quiet and not draw attention to herself as she gained proper footing on the platform. She mouthed a 'thank you' to Perry as she grabbed his pokéball from her sopping wet bag (Arceus, she shuddered to think of the condition her Crosstransceiver and Pokedex were in, not to mention the change of clothes that was inside, and of course, the dark stone potentially containing a legendary pokemon that was also in there) and returned him.

Sigilyph made quick work of garbodor, leaving the garbage pokemon an unmoving heap in front of his master. Wyatt called back the ancient psychic bird, the expression on his face blank. Something about the absolute apathy on his face concerned Delaney greatly. Judging by the nervous movements the Plasma member was making as he returned the garbodor, she was not the only one who was unnerved.

"How did you know we were here?" Wyatt asked, his voice calm and even.

"I don't have to tell you shit," the Plasma member spat.

"It would be wise to cooperate," the brown-haired trainer replied.

"Or what? You gonna attack me with your little birdy? You couldn't take me in a fight, kid," the Plasma member sneered. Wyatt took two steps towards the Plasma member, the same emotionless look remaining on his face.

"I'll give you one more chance to answer my question," Wyatt said evenly.

"Fuck you, kid," the Plasma member growled.

Wyatt took but a few more steps until he was nose to nose with the Plasma member, his face still expressionless. What happened next seemed to go in fast forward, and Delaney wasn't sure what exactly was happening. One minute the Plasma member was striking out at Wyatt, the next, there was a sickening crack and then the Plasma member was limp on the floor, screaming. With the same emotionless expression, Wyatt picked up the man's leg, dragged him to the edge of the platform and tossed him into the sewage water.

Delaney stared at Wyatt in terrified amazement. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…" she muttered. "Arceus, oh shit."

"What?" Wyatt asked.

"_What?_" Delaney repeated incredulously. "Wyatt, you just killed that guy."

Wyatt shrugged, to Delaney's astonishment. "He attacked you." He grimaced. "You smell awful, by the way."

"Somehow, considering the fact that I was worried about drowning, that doesn't worry me so much," Delaney said. "Oh, and considering the fact that I just watched you _kill someone._"

"Del, you watched people die yesterday. What's so different?" he asked, sighing.

"It's just… I don't know, it just seemed more… real, I guess," Delaney said, stumbling over her words. She couldn't explain why watching Wyatt kill the Plasma member in black was somehow more shocking than watching Ren, Jackson and Lauren the day before, but for some reason, it was weighing on her more heavily.

"Well, this is war," Wyatt said with a shrug. "That's not the first guy I've killed. It more than likely won't be the last. You should probably get used to it."

* * *

"It's not even ringing once anymore," Sawyer said, a grim expression on his face. "Now it just goes to voicemail without ringing. Something is wrong."

"Maybe we _should _have someone else go to Castelia and see if everything is okay," Elesa spoke up unexpectedly. "It's been awhile. Shouldn't we have heard from at least one of them at this point?"

"Nicolai's is still ringing once and then going to voicemail," Lauren reported.

"See? It's just an issue with getting signal," Cheren said, exasperated. He and Lenora had been trying for hours to convince the gym leaders and trainers to calm down, but it hadn't worked even remotely (though Dax had stopped crying, he was still muttering to himself, which was a victory in Cheren's book). Now that Lenora was on the phone with Steven, who had called in a panic as he was unable to reach Delaney, it was Cheren's turn to try and quell the anxiety of his fellow trainers.

"Guys, let's just go," Jackson said, clearly irritated. "We don't need permission to go find our friends."

"Will you just _shut up_?" a sharp female voice snapped from across the room. A dark-haired young woman, one of the gym leaders from Kanto, stood up. "Arceus, we have been sitting here for hours and you haven't once stopped whining or complaining. Aren't you all supposed to be gym leaders and elite trainers?"

For once, Jackson was silent, as was everyone else, looking in awe at the dark-haired young woman. "Listen, I have a team of psychics who can teleport us to wherever Team Plasma is when we are ready to fight, and only then. I agree that you don't have to ask permission for anything, as you're all clearly adults, so you know what? If you want to go, then go. I just thought you would all be a lot more helpful and a lot less whiny."

"Sabrina…" the teal-haired older man with a cape next to her said quietly.

"Koga, you can't tell me I'm not right," she said pointedly.

Lenora returned to the room, where the tension was palpable, the Hoenn trainers looked like kicked lillipup and Sabrina stood with her arms crossed, irritation visible in her features. "What did I miss?" she asked wearily.

"No disrespect intended, ma'am, as you've clearly done a lot in trying to organize this group," Sabrina began. "But we can't just wait for them to come back from Castelia before we do anything. It's counterproductive, and in all honesty, I didn't come all the way from Kanto to sit in this library and do nothing. This is a war, after all."

"She does have a point, Lenora," Cheren said timidly.

Lenora sighed. "Team Plasma is currently taking residence in a castle where the Pokemon League used to be. That's north of Opelucid."

"How far is Opelucid?" Jackson asked.

"It's a ways away," Cheren said. "It will take a while to get there."

"Well we better start planning."

* * *

It was to Nicolai's credit that he didn't ask why Delaney was picking an old, brown shoelace out of her hair when the trio finally reunited. Of course, he had something more exciting than what was or was not in Delaney's hair- he and Oliver, his excadrill, had found what seemed to be the entrance to a settlement, though he was hesitant to go in alone. He wanted Delaney and Wyatt to go with him.

Which, of course, was why they had let Nicolai lead the way to the back area of the sewer area, to what had formerly been a brick wall, but now was clearly the doorway to… something. Delaney looked at the hole in the wall hesitantly. Who knew what was back there?

Voices could be heard from the other side- a couple of male voices, with a vaguely familiar –sounding female voice to boot. Delaney and Wyatt exchanged a glance. "Well, I guess we didn't come here to just stare at this hole," Delaney said, trying to force some optimism in her voice.

"There's definitely someone there," Wyatt said.

Delaney grabbed Perry's pokéball on her belt and looked at her two companions. "I guess I'll go first," she said. She took a breath and counted to three before forcing herself to go through the hole.

The room was oddly bright compared to the area of the sewer they had just been in, and it took Delaney's eyes a moment to adjust. The first thing she had noticed was that all conversation had stopped. The second thing she noticed was the familiar gray Plasma uniform.

The third was a head of orange hair, bangs swooping over one eye and a smirk. "Hello, Delaney Caldwell. Long time no see."

* * *

It would seem like he would be completely invested in planning what could be planning the final attack against the biggest thorn in his side. Delaney Caldwell was now in Unova, and she was heading into their territory. This was the potentially the best chance they would get at ambushing her, and instead of ordering the grunts around and outlining battle tactics, Cyrus sat at the desk in his office, staring blankly at a blank sheet of notebook paper.

Cyrus was troubled and for the first time since he had formed Team Galactic, he was beginning to doubt himself and his plan. In the beginning, there had been no doubt. A ragtag group of misfits had formed together under Cyrus, all hurt or bitter because of something or another, completely dedicated to Cyrus's vision of a world without emotion, believing that achieving his vision would rid them of their pain. In theory, they were correct, though Cyrus's perfect world involved none of them, not even his most dedicated commanders. Cyrus wanted to be alone, after all. He had everything planned out, and then Delaney Caldwell had ruined it.

What he hadn't planned on was finding this perfect world elsewhere- the Distortion World. As he sat in prison, all he did was obsess about it and wish that he had not been pulled out by that incessant Cynthia. As he began making arrangements to break out, he noticed that he wasn't feeling up to par. He was getting excruciating headaches during the day and when he tried to sleep, he would see disturbing flashes of images and then his mind would just go blank. He believed it was the stress of trying to break out until the dreams at night began to clear and he realized he was envisioning some vision of the future- a future ruling with a man with mint-green hair and a prosthetic arm, a future where he rid himself of Delaney Caldwell, a future where he allowed the Distortion World to intermingle with his own world, destroying all about him and allowing him to live the peaceful, solitary life he wanted. It was enough for him to want to break out and find the Distortion World again.

Upon breaking out of the correctional facility, Cyrus tried everything in his power to return and finally, he stumbled upon Sendoff Spring and subsequently, Turnback Cave. It was strange, yes. It was a place not meant for people or pokemon, other than the strange shadow creature, Giratina. Gravity was not the same there as it was in their world, the air was not really suitable for their lungs to breathe, but it was without others, and without emotion. With each visit, the dreams, or visions, had gotten stronger, and Cyrus realized that the more fluid distinctions of time and space had maybe warped some part of his mind. How was he to know? It wasn't like people had done studies. All he could possibly know was that none of this had ever happened before going to the Distortion World, and now he was potentially seeing bits and pieces of the future, which were becoming more clear each time he went back.

Cyrus was desperate to try to make things work. After all, they had told him all his life that he was a genius. He had found a way to capture the Lake Trio and engineer the Red Chain to control Palkia and Dialga. Why couldn't he create something to make living in the Distortion World possible? If he could just do that, he wouldn't even need to go through the trouble of trying to recreate this imperfect world again. He could just let it rot and just stay forever by himself, away from the fools he was surrounded by that let emotion rule them.

What had seemed like such a genius idea though wasn't as possible as it seemed. All of the technology in the world couldn't have made the Distortion World hospitable even for just one person, and each time he tried to disappear into it, the Distortion World eventually spit him right back out, rejecting him as if he were some sort of virus.

After several times of entering and being forced back out of the Distortion World, Turnback Cave was mysteriously destroyed by massive floods coming from Sendoff Spring. Rock formations were destroyed, mudslides sealed off old entrances and Cyrus could no longer reach the portal to his perfect world. It was at this point that Cyrus once and for all decided to forget about trying to recreate the world and he began to obsess over getting back to the Distortion World. The only way he could think to do so was to recreate a Red Chain, get Dialga and Palkia all riled up again and wait for Giratina.

It was at this point that he saw a newscast from Unova focused on Team Plasma, a group dedicated to Pokemon liberation. Their spokesman was the mint green-haired man from Cyrus's visions in prison. He was real, he was in Unova, his name was Ghetsis and Cyrus knew that he had to find him. This was made even more clear when the next thirty minutes were dedicated to exploring the link between Team Plasma and recent criminal activity and they mentioned a girl fighting them in Nimbasa who got stolen pokemon back for a little boy. Her picture was only up briefly, but even with the dark hair and blue eyes, Cyrus recognized Delaney Caldwell within seconds.

The picture was clear now. Cyrus had to get to Unova and team up with this Ghetsis in order to get the future he wanted. Since Alex had so thoroughly destroyed Team Galactic, this man and his loyal devotees were Cyrus's chance at getting a herd of followers to gain traction and find himself with the resources he needed to recreate the Red Chain and subsequently get Giratina to open a portal to the Distortion World again. He would build back up Team Galactic, merge with the Team Plasma that Ghetsis operated and form an unstoppable force to rule Sinnoh and Unova until he could get back to the Distortion World. Somewhere in the process, he would end Delaney Caldwell's meddling. He refused to let her stop him again, and she, like the others, was so emotional that it would be easy to bring her down in the end.

Since his visions in prison had proved to be fairly accurate (after all, they had led him to Ghetsis), Cyrus had no issue with following any future premonitions. It had been another night vision that had led him to knowing that Cynthia would be in Unova, which had led to them getting rid of that meddling woman once and for all. In his vision, though, taking Cynthia down had been simple. The Shadow Triad had left unscathed. No one had died.

Why, then, had they come back a Shadow Duo? Was his vision flawed? Did it show not a truth, but a lie? Did it only uncover a partial truth? Were these "truths" able to be changed? And if any of these were possible, was it possible that Cyrus had made a grave mistake in trusting these visions? He had no idea, and he couldn't exactly tell Ghetsis that their plans were potentially useless now.

A knock on the door sounded and a blonde male grunt in the new black Plasma uniform cracked the door open. "Sir, Ghetsis is requesting your presence in his office."

"I'll be in to see him in a moment," Cyrus said gruffly.

Ghetsis could wait. After all, he had plans to make.

* * *

**Author's Note (4/28/13): **So... For those of you who know me even a little, even if just by reading these author's notes, you already know that this is usually the part where I apologize for taking forever to post, so... consider yourselves apologized to. I have been attempting to write whenever I have had a spare moment, but really, during this last month, those moments were few and far between. I have been working hard on my research project, attempting to finish a rough draft of a final paper to send off as part of a proposal for a national conference in November in New Orleans AND I went to Arizona to present my research at a regional honors conference... And that's not even factoring in normal classes or work. So just know that I've been crazy busy, I've been doing what I can and thankfully, this crazy busy stage is hopefully over now and I can get back to updating semi-regularly. My goal is to have SYOF done by the time summer classes start, so keep your fingers crossed. :)

Also, coming very soon (as in, within the next couple of weeks) is a new story (that I am really excited about)! Keep your eyes out for it, and there's more info on my profile if you're curious. :)

Thank you all for your continued patience with me as I try to juggle writing with my crazy life. I appreciate you all so much!

And lastly, thanks as always to my fabulous, fabulous beta and friend **Noteleks**. Also a thanks to **ej92** for the character of Nicolai!

See you soon with chapter 18!

~DAT


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